In research conducted over the last year-and-a-half, an Iowa State professor and a graduate student in animal science have worked to create eggs that may help prevent the spread of cancer.

The poultry research came about in reaction to studies that a compound found in beef and dairy products, called conjugated linoleic acid or CLA, may bolster the human immune system and protect people from cancer.

“Most of the work has been done with laboratory animals,” said Jerry Sell, a professor and poultry scientist. “There is a lot of uncertainty.”

Sell said his expertise is not in the area of proving that CLA can prevent cancer. He said his goal is to be able to “provide something [beneficial to people] in food consumed routinely if CLA is in fact anti-cancer.”

Sell and graduate student Marisa Chamrespollert have modified chicken diets so that the amount of CLA in the eggs the chickens lay has increased to 11 percent of total fatty acids, compared to less than 1 percent in other foods.

According to a press release, the work Sell and Chamrespollert have been doing also deals with the effect CLA has on the eggs’ physical and cooking traits.

Sell said the only peculiarity so far occurs if the eggs are hard-boiled.

When hard-boiled, the egg yolks become “a bit rubbery,” Sell said. He added, however, that “the taste [of the hard-boiled eggs] is not different” from normal eggs.

Sell said a poultry product specialist is working on solving the problem.