Eggs - health risk or healthy food?
Does an egg a day keep the doctor away?
For years eggs were considered more of a health risk than a healthy food. But in my opinion, they’re a highly nutritious whole food that plays an important part in a healthy, balanced diet.
Not only that, being inexpensive and versatile they make for a great quick, cheap and easy meal AND they score high on the satiety index – helping you to feel fuller for longer.
Eggs contain 6-7g protein each and are a complete protein, containing all 9 essential amino acids (the ones we must get from food because our bodies can’t make them). Eggs also contain vitamin A, D, E, and all B vitamins, choline and minerals including iodine, selenium, iron, zinc, phosphorus and calcium.
Historical advice was to limit egg intake due to their cholesterol content (type of lipid/fat which forms part of our cell membranes and is used in the formation of brain cells, nerve cells, bile acids, vitamin D and hormones). It used to be thought that eating cholesterol significantly affected the cholesterol levels in our blood and therefore our risk of heart disease, and so eggs were lumped into the cholesterol-containing foods we should avoid.
However the relationship between dietary cholesterol and heart disease has been repeatedly confounded by the relationship between dietary cholesterol and saturated fat (because most foods high in cholesterol are also high in saturated fat). Studies suggest that saturated fat intake has more impact on cholesterol levels than dietary cholesterol, and it may be the saturated fat that creates the link to heart disease, rather than the cholesterol. One egg contains only 1-2g saturated fat, therefore eggs are one of the few foods that contain cholesterol but have low levels of saturated fat.
More recent research suggests that in most people cholesterol intake from food doesn’t significantly affect cholesterol levels in the blood. Studies have suggested no effect of daily egg intake on blood cholesterol and no association of dietary cholesterol intake on heart disease and stroke.
Furthermore, given how important cholesterol is, our bodies have evolved to ensure that they always have enough available. Our liver produces enough to meet our body’s needs, but when we eat a lot of cholesterol-rich foods, our liver starts producing less to keep cholesterol levels from becoming excessively high. Nevertheless, you should still avoid eating excessive amounts of cholesterol if your blood levels are raised or are at increased risk of heart disease.
It is important to note that some of these studies have strong limitations and there are differences in findings between cohort and intervention studies. Also of note is the high level of industry funded research. Despite this there is not strong enough evidence to warrant continuing recommendations to limit egg intake to three per week. Worldwide, previous restrictions on egg intake have been removed.
More importantly, to view eggs solely in terms of their cholesterol content is to ignore their other health properties. AND…it’s important to consider eggs in the context of the wider diet – what you eat with them matters! Pairing eggs with refined white bread, lots of butter or processed meat is unlikely to be beneficial. However in the context of a healthy balanced diet made up of fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds, unrefined wholegrains, good quality proteins and healthy fats, eggs are likely to further contribute to good nutrition status.
EGG Ideas
Breakfast: poached or scrambled on wholegrain toast or with tomatoes, spinach and beans; banana pancakes made with eggs, banana and oats.
Lunch: vege omelette, hard-boiled egg added to salad.
Dinner: frittata or quiche loaded with veges.
For more check out: https://eggs.org.nz/egg-recipes/
Bottom Line
Eggs are a natural and healthy whole food that can be enjoyed by most people every day of the week. Those at increased risk of heart disease should limit to 6-7 per week.
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23295181
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-3010.2006.00543.x
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26109578
https://www.heartfoundation.org.nz/shop/submissions/eggs-and-the-heart-evidence-paper.pdf