Thiamin inadequacy in infants: lack of evidence of amprolium in egg yolk.

This study investigated the hypothesis that the consumption of egg yolks might lead to thiamin inadequacy in infants because of the possible contamination of the egg yolks with amprolium. Earlier workers showed that the presence of amprolium in the diet inhibits the absorption of thiamin. Amprolium is added to some poultry feeds to control coccidiosis: it is readily incorporated in the egg yolk and egg yolk is one of the solid foods offered to infants at weaning. We found that under current commercial poultry feeding practices in WA it is extremely unlikely that any amprolium would be present in commercial eggs or poultry. Amprolium was undetectable in eggs purchased at several retail outlets. Thus there is no evidence that consumption of egg yolk contributes to thiamin inadequacy in infants.