Eat that egg, you’ll probably be in a really good and more giving mood

Eating eggs could make you more generous, according to Leiden University researchers who have found they contain a nutrient that makes it more likely the egg-eater will donate more to charity.

(Click here for OZY’s piece on the subject.)

The substance is tryptophan, which helps produce  serotonin, the “feel-good” hormone that’s released, for instance, after you get a hug .

Apparently, the researchers fed half the study sample of  32 men and women a supplement containing roughly the same amount of tryptophan in three eggs and the other half a placebo. Each was given some money and asked to give as they pleased to the assembled donation boxes.

The trptophan-eaters gave twice as much.

The researchers aren’t able yet to say how exactly tryptophan makes us give more but it stands to reason that anything that makes you feel good (about yourself or life) is probably something that inspires acts of goodness.