Eggs are one of the few foods that should be classified as “super foods.” They are loaded with nutrients, some of which are rare in the modern diet. Eggs are among the most nutritious foods on the planet. A whole egg contains all the nutrients required to turn a single cell into a baby chicken.
A single large boiled egg contains:
- Vitamin A: 6% of the RDA
- Folate: 5% of the RDA
- Vitamin B5: 7% of the RDA
- Vitamin B12: 9% of the RDA
- Vitamin B2: 15% of the RDA
- Phosphorus: 9% of the RDA
- Selenium: 22% of the RDA
- Eggs also contain decent amounts of vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K, vitamin B6, calcium and zinc
- Cholesterol
- Protein
- Choline
- Biotin – Vitamin B7
- Antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin
This comes with 77 calories, 6 grams of protein and 5 grams of healthy fats. Eggs also contain various trace nutrients that are important for health. In fact, eggs are pretty much the perfect food. They contain a little bit of almost every nutrient you need. If you can get your hands on pastured or omega-3 enriched eggs, these are even better. They contain higher amounts of omega-3 fat and are much higher in vitamin A and E.
Whole eggs are among the most nutritious foods on the planet, containing a little bit of almost every nutrient you need. Omega-3 enriched and/or pastured eggs are even healthier.
Long-vilified for their high cholesterol content by well-meaning doctors and scientists researching heart disease, eggs now seem to be making a bit of a comeback. So what changed?
While it’s true that just one large egg yolk has 200 mg of cholesterol—making it one of the richest sources of dietary cholesterol—eggs also contain additional nutrients that may help lower the risk for heart disease. In addition, the moderate amount of fat in an egg, about 5 grams, is mostly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat. It’s also crucial to distinguish between dietary cholesteroland cholesterol in the blood, which are only weakly related. The focus on dietary cholesterol alone was de-emphasized as more attention was placed on the influence of saturated and trans fat on blood cholesterol. Accordingly, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015 removed the prior recommendation to limit consumption of dietary cholesterol to 300 mg per day.
Given their history, “are eggs healthy?” has become a frequently asked nutrition question. To answer this, it’s important to look at eggs not only on their own, but in context of the entire diet, especially when compared to foods they may replace (and vice-versa).
Eggs and Health
- Research on moderate egg consumption in two large prospective cohort studies (nearly 40,000 men and over 80,000 women) found that up to one egg per day is not associated with increased heart disease risk in healthy individuals.
- Eggs were previously associated with heart disease risk as a result of their high cholesterol content. However, a solid body of research shows that for most people, cholesterol in food has a smaller effect on blood levels of total cholesterol and harmful LDL cholesterol than does the mix of fats in the diet.
- Of course, this research doesn’t give a green light to daily three-egg omelets. While a 2008 report from the Physicians’ Health Study supports the idea that eating an egg a day is generally safe for the heart, it also suggests that going much beyond that could increase the risk for heart failure later in life. You also need to pay attention to the “trimmings” that come with your eggs. To your cardiovascular system, scrambled eggs, salsa, and a 100% whole-wheat English muffin is a far different meal than scrambled eggs with cheese, sausages, home fries, and white toast.
- People who have difficulty controlling their total and LDL cholesterol may also want to be cautious about eating egg yolks and instead choose foods made with egg whites. The same is true for people with diabetes. In studies including the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study, heart disease risk was increased among men and women with diabetes who ate one or more eggs a day. For people who have diabetes and heart disease, it may be best to limit egg consumption to no more than three yolks per week.
- Furthermore, to truly assess eggs and heart health, we need to examine how they stack-up to foods we might choose in their place—the classic nutrition substitution analysis. Using some common breakfast options as an example:
- While eggs may be a much better choice than sugary, refined grain-based options like sweetened breakfast cereals, pancakes with syrup, muffins, or bagels, they may fall short of other options. A bowl of steel-cut oats with nuts and berries, for example, will be a much better choice for heart health than an egg-centric breakfast. Consumption of whole grains and fruit predict lower risk of heart disease, and when it comes to protein, plant sources like nuts and seeds are related to lower cardiovascular and overall mortality, especially when compared to red meat or eggs.
The bottom line is while eggs may not be the optimal breakfast choice, they are certainly not the worst, falling somewhere in the middle on the spectrum of food choice and heart disease risk. For those looking to eat a healthy diet, keeping intake of eggs moderate to low will be best for most, emphasizing plant-based protein options when possible.
High in Cholesterol, but Don’t Adversely Affect Blood Cholesterol
It is true that eggs are high in cholesterol. In fact, a single egg contains 212 mg, which is over half of the recommended daily intake of 300 mg.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that cholesterol in the diet doesn’t necessarily raise cholesterol in the blood.
The liver actually produces large amounts of cholesterol every single day. When you increase your intake of dietary cholesterol, your liver simply produces less cholesterol to even it out.
Nevertheless, the response to eating eggs varies between individuals:
- In 70% of people, eggs don’t raise cholesterol at all
- In the other 30% (termed “hyper responders”), eggs can mildly raise total and LDL cholesterol
However, people with genetic disorders like familial hypercholesterolemia or a gene variant called ApoE4 may want to limit or avoid eggs.
Raise HDL (The “Good”) Cholesterol
HDL stands for high-density lipoprotein. It is often known as the “good” cholesterol.
People who have higher levels of HDL usually have a lower risk of heart disease, stroke and other health problems.
Eating eggs is a great way to increase HDL. In one study, eating two eggs per day for six weeks increased HDL levels by 10%.
Contain Choline — an Important Nutrient That Most People Don’t Get Enough Of
Choline is a nutrient that most people don’t even know exists, yet it is an incredibly important substance and is often grouped with the B vitamins.
Choline is used to build cell membranes and has a role in producing signaling molecules in the brain, along with various other functions.
The symptoms of choline deficiency are serious, so fortunately it’s rare.
Whole eggs are an excellent source of choline. A single egg contains more than 100 mg of this very important nutrient.
LDL cholesterol is generally known as the “bad” cholesterol.
It is well known that having high levels of LDL is linked to an increased risk of heart disease.
But many people don’t realize that LDL is divided into subtypes based on the size of the particles.
There are small, dense LDL particles and large LDL particles.
Many studies have shown that people who have predominantly small, dense LDL particles have a higher risk of heart disease than people who have mostly large LDL particles.
Even if eggs tend to mildly raise LDL cholesterol in some people, studies show that the particles change from small, dense to large LDL, which is an improvement.
One of the consequences of aging is that eyesight tends to get worse.
There are several nutrients that help counteract some of the degenerative processes that can affect our eyes.
Two of these are called lutein and zeaxanthin. They are powerful antioxidants that accumulate in the retina of the eye.
Studies show that consuming adequate amounts of these nutrients can significantly reduce the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration, two very common eye disorders.
Egg yolks contain large amounts of both lutein and zeaxanthin.
In one controlled study, eating just 1.3 egg yolks per day for 4.5 weeks increased blood levels of lutein by 28–50% and zeaxanthin by 114–142%.
Eggs are also high in vitamin A, which deserves another mention here. Vitamin A deficiency is the most common cause of blindness in the world.
Not all eggs are created equal. Their nutrient composition varies depending on how the hens were fed and raised.
Eggs from hens that were raised on pasture and/or fed omega-3 enriched feeds tend to be much higher in omega-3 fatty acids.
Omega-3 fatty acids are known to reduce blood levels of triglycerides, a well known risk factor for heart disease.
Studies show that consuming omega-3 enriched eggs is a very effective way to lower blood triglycerides. In one study, eating just five omega-3 enriched eggs per week for three weeks reduced triglycerides by 16–18%.
Proteins are the main building blocks of the human body.
They’re used to make all sorts of tissues and molecules that serve both structural and functional purposes.
Getting enough protein in the diet is very important and studies show that currently recommended amounts may be too low.
Eggs are an excellent source of protein, with a single large egg containing six grams of it.
Eggs also contain all the essential amino acids in the right ratios, so your body is well-equipped to make full use of the protein in them.
Eating enough protein can help with weight loss, increase muscle mass, lower blood pressure and optimize bone health, to name a few.
For many decades, eggs have been unfairly demonized.
It has been claimed that because of the cholesterol in them, they must be bad for the heart.
Many studies published in recent years have examined the relationship between eating eggs and the risk of heart disease.
One review of 17 studies with a total of 263,938 participants found no association between egg intake and heart disease or stroke.
Many other studies have arrived at the same conclusion.
However, some studies have found that people with diabetes who eat eggs have an increased risk of heart disease.
Whether the eggs are actually causing the increased risk isn’t known, because these types of studies can only show statistical association. They cannot prove that eggs caused anything.
It is possible that people who eat lots of eggs and have diabetes are less health-conscious, on average.
On a low-carb diet, which is by far the best diet for people with diabetes, eating eggs leads to improvements in risk factors for heart disease.
Eggs are incredibly filling. They are a high-protein food, and protein is, by far, the most satiating macronutrient.
Eggs score high on a scale called the satiety index, which measures the ability of foods to cause feelings of fullness and reduce later calorie intake.
In one study of 30 overweight women, eating eggs instead of bagels for breakfast increased feelings of fullness and made them automatically eat fewer calories for the next 36 hours.
In another study, replacing a bagel breakfast with an egg breakfast caused significant weight loss over a period of eight weeks.
Historically, eggs have been considered unhealthy because they contain cholesterol.
A large egg contains 212 mg of cholesterol, which is a lot compared to most other foods.
However, many studies have shown that the dietary cholesterol in eggs does not adversely affect cholesterol levels in the blood.
In fact, eggs raise your “good” HDL cholesterol and change your “bad” LDL cholesterol from small and dense to large, which is benign.
One analysis of 17 studies on egg consumption and health discovered no connection between eggs and either heart disease or stroke in otherwise healthy people.
What’s more, multiple other studies have led to the same conclusion.
Eggs are particularly rich in the two antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin.
These antioxidants gather in the retina of the eye where they protect against harmful sunlight and reduce the risk of eye diseases like macular degeneration and cataracts.
In one study, supplementing with an average of 1.3 egg yolks per day for 4.5 weeks increased blood levels of lutein by 28–50% and zeaxanthin by 114–142%.
If you want to learn about other foods that are good for your eye health, check out this article.
Just think about it, one egg contains all the nutrients and building blocks required to grow a baby chicken.
Eggs are loaded with high-quality proteins, vitamins, minerals, good fats and various trace nutrients.
A large egg contains (10):
- Only 77 calories, with 5 grams of fat and 6 grams of protein with all 9 essential amino acids.
- Rich in iron, phosphorus, selenium and vitamins A, B12, B2 and B5 (among others).
- About 113 mg of choline, a very important nutrient for the brain.
If you decide to include eggs in your diet, make sure to eat omega-3-enriched or pastured eggs. They are much more nutritious.
Make sure to eat the yolks, since they contain pretty much all the nutrients.
Studies clearly show that eating up to three whole eggs per day is perfectly safe.
There is no evidence that going beyond that is harmful — it is just “uncharted territory,” as it hasn’t been studied.
Eggs are pretty much nature’s perfect food.
On top of everything else, they are also cheap, easy to prepare, go with almost any food and taste awesome.
While eggs may not be the optimal breakfast choice, they are certainly not the worst, falling somewhere in the middle on the spectrum of food choice and heart disease risk. For those looking to eat a healthy diet, keeping intake of eggs moderate to low will be best for most, emphasizing plant-based protein options when possible.
- While chicken eggs are the most common variety (especially in the U.S.), eggs from a range of birds—including ducks and quail—are also consumed worldwide.
- Brown eggs are not more nutritious than white. The color and size of an egg are determined by the breed of hen, which can produce white, cream, brown, blue, green or speckled eggs! The color of the yolk is also not reflective of nutritional value but the type of poultry feed.
- Eggs vary in available sizes from medium to jumbo, but eggs graded “large” are the standard size preferred in recipes.
References
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2015 – 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans; 2015.
- Hu FB, Stampfer MJ, Rimm EB, et al. A prospective study of egg consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease in men and women. JAMA. 1999;281:1387-94.
- Fernandez ML. Dietary cholesterol provided by eggs and plasma lipoproteins in healthy populations. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2006;9:8-12.
- Shin JY, Xun P, Nakamura Y, He K. Egg consumption in relation to risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013;98:146-59.
- Djousse L, Gaziano JM. Egg consumption and risk of heart failure in the Physicians’ Health Study. Circulation. 2008;117:512-6.
- Song M, Fung TT, Hu FB, et al. Association of Animal and Plant Protein Intake With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality. JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176:1453-63.
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