Since our job is to help our patients become healthier overall, I thought I could help “bust” the myth that eggs are bad for you. I would like to share a few articles that help support the health benefits of eating eggs.
The first article was written by Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Nutrition Coach Dain Wallace, and was published in a recent edition of the Huffington Post titled:
Amazing Eggs: Busting the Cholesterol Myth:
Spoiler alert! Eggs are not bad for your cholesterol, nor are they bad for your health. Feel free to take my word for it, or read on and hear why eggs are one of nature’s greatest foods.
Wait, aren’t eggs high in cholesterol?
Yes, eggs contain a high amount of cholesterol. One large egg has about 200 mg of cholesterol.
A few things on that:
– Dietary Cholesterol Isn’t Bound to Blood Cholesterol. There is little-to-no relation between dietary cholesterol and higher blood cholesterol levels, nor any legitimate link between dietary cholesterol and the incidence of heart disease.
– The Human Body Makes Cholesterol. Your liver makes 3-6 times more cholesterol than you can get eating eggs and/or other animal products.
– Cholesterol is Vital To Your Body. You need it for the production of steroid hormones like testosterone and also to build & repair cells (which is a perpetually occurring process in the human body).
So yes, eggs themselves are high in cholesterol, but no, consumption of eggs does not cause a spike in human cholesterol levels.
OK, but aren’t eggs high in fat? Shouldn’t I avoid the yolks?
Yes, eggs are fairly high in fat. Roughly 5 g of fat per egg to be precise. About 2 g of that fat is saturated fat, which of course means that the other half is unsaturated. Coincidentally, the ideal ratio of dietary fat in humans is a 1:1 saturated fat to unsaturated fat ratio, making the fat ratio in eggs nearly perfect.
If you are trying to cut calories you can absolutely get rid of some of the yolks, but benefits of eating the yolk include:
– More Vitamins. The yolk is full of vitamins A, D, and E. Vitamin D is especially important since most people are vitamin D deficient, and eggs are one of only a handful of foods that provide dietary vitamin D.
– Twice The Protein. Eating whole eggs doubles the protein intake you’d get eating egg whites only because the yolk contains half of the protein (3 g of the 6 g). This protein also happens to be the highest quality protein in the world, according to the Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) of the World Health Organization.
– Increased Testosterone Levels. Saturated fat and cholesterol increase testosterone production. Both are heavily present in the egg yolk. Testosterone levels help build muscle, which is something that almost everyone could use more of, especially as we age (even you ladies!).
Further Evidence?
I used to eat two or three whole eggs daily, then switched to two whole eggs and two eggs whites, then four whole eggs a day, and now sometimes I eat up to six or eight whole eggs in a day. My current blood work is nearly perfect, according to my physician.
Adam Bornstein over at Livestrong.com recently did his own ‘Eggsperiment’ and after adding three whole eggs to his diet daily for three months, his blood work showed a small decrease in bad blood cholesterol (LDL), a rise in good blood cholesterol (HDL) and a decrease in body fat percentage (13 per cent to 12 per cent). Sure, he was already healthy before starting this experiment, but the addition of eggs made him healthier than ever before. It’s pretty cool stuff.
Still concerned about your cholesterol?
If you have high cholesterol, eggs are far from your biggest worry. Personally, I’d actually suggest adding eggs to your diet, but in addition to the following:
– Lose Fat. People with high cholesterol usually have excess body fat. How to lose fat? Read on…
– Exercise. This will make you lose fat and improve your health.
– Eat Lean. No more junk food, soda, trans fat or refined sugars. If you can strike these “foods” from your diet, you will be absolutely astounded with the results.
– Drink Green Tea and Coffee. The antioxidants in green tea keep your LDL particles in check, preventing blockages in arteries. Green tea and coffee can also boost your metabolism, leading to increased fat loss.
In conclusion, eggs are magnificent. They are delicious, satisfying, full of vitamins and minerals, and of the highest quality protein in the world.
This second article was published in Reader’s Digest:
MYTH: Eggs are Bad for You
This is a classic instance of good intentions but scrambled science. For years, nutrition experts cautioned that eggs were unhealthy. After all, those gifts from the henhouse are one of the richest sources of cholesterol in the human diet. Since cholesterol plugs up arteries, eggs must raise the risk of heart attacks and strokes, right?
Wrong. Large studies suggest that this theory is full of feathers. For example, the famous Framingham Heart Study, which first showed that high blood cholesterol causes heart attacks, found no connection between eating eggs and cardiovascular disease. Another study, involving more than 117,000 men and women, failed to show an increased risk of heart attacks in people who ate up to one egg per day.
How could that be? It turns out that only about 25 percent of the cholesterol in your blood comes from food. The other 75 percent is manufactured by the liver, which produces lots of cholesterol when you eat cheeseburgers, doughnuts, and other sources of saturated fat — something eggs are low in. Eggs are also filled with plenty of useful nutrients that may offset any damage done by their cholesterol content, including unsaturated fat, folate and other B vitamins, and minerals. And if you shop around, you can find eggs that are enriched with healthful omega-3 fatty acids.
Eggs can fit into a balanced diet. In fact, even two eggs a day won’t budge most people’s cholesterol. Just keep in mind that each little orb contains about 200 milligrams of cholesterol. The American Heart Association recommends consuming no more than 300 milligrams of cholesterol per day, so plan on enjoying your omelet instead of — not alongside — the bacon and home fries.
By the way, eggs aren’t the only high-cholesterol food that has been exonerated by nutritionists. In the 1990s, research showed that eating another delicacy that’s notoriously high in cholesterol — shrimp — had barely any effect on cholesterol levels.
Read more: http://www.rd.com/health/healthy-eating/7-food-myths-you-probably-know-but-are-worth-repeating/#ixzz2ueXz99i8
Most of our patients want to improve their health and live productive, pain-free lives as they age. If it is not already, regular chiropractic treatment should be a part of your preventive health strategy to maintain a pain-free active lifestyle.
The chiropractic physicians at Performance Health Center are here to assist you in the functional part of your health which includes your posture and spine. If you have any questions, please contact me.
Thomas Ball, M.S., D.C.