The question of whether eggs are healthy seems to have a new answer every year. First, they’re supposed to be good for you, then they’re not, then they are again.

Elmer DePoppe of rural Glenville thinks he’s tapped into a formula that can make eggs a health food permanently.

This summer, the DePoppes bought 100 hens and started feeding them a special diet that results in &uot;Omega-3 Eggs,&uot; rich in a kind of fatty acid that, research shows, can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and improve a person’s cholesterol ratio.

Now, the family is trying to get their new business venture off the ground, pitching their egg harvest to stores and restaurants in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa, and selling direct to customers out of their farmhouse.

&uot;Right now, a lot of it is word of mouth,&uot; DePoppe said. &uot;We’re trying to get into stores.&uot;

Elmer, his wife Kathy and daughter Cindy all have a hand in the business. They are part of the Southwest Minnesota Poultry Co-op, and as far as they know, they are the only Omega 3 producers in the area.

The key to the altered eggs is simple: Slip a little flax seed into their feed.

Hens raised on a diet enriched with the added ingredient produce eggs with high levels of Omega 3 fatty acids.

The feed is more than twice as expensive as regular feed, which makes the eggs pricier, but the DePoppes say they are marketing a health product, which justifies the cost. They said the eggs are perfect for people with high cholesterol, heart conditions or diabetes who usually can’t eat eggs.

&uot;We had a gentleman who said it was nice to be able to eat the yolk,&uot; said Kathy. &uot;For years, he couldn’t eat the yolk.&uot;

The DePoppes have raised rabbits and chickens for meat in the past, and Elmer said he’s always found comfort working with the animals &045; making the healthy-egg business therapeutic for him as well as his customers.

&uot;You can go out and talk to your animals and get relief that way,&uot; he said.

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The DePoppes can be reached at 448-3755.

(Contact Dylan Belden at dylan.belden@albertleatribune.com or 379-3433.)