Doctors and scientists are loudly saying that the time to rehabilitate eggs has come. Here are eight reasons for that.

People have been eaten chicken eggs for ages. It is nutritious, tasty and safe food. It’s the food that everyone can afford to buy. You can safely include eggs as part of your healthy diet, and here we’ll explain why.

8 Reasons to rehabilitate eggs

Eggs are nutritious

Eggs are nutrient rich, they are literary packed with many different nutrients. A yolk contains Vitamins A, D, E and B12, riboflavin, zinc, selenium, phosphorus, folate, fat (about 5 grams per egg), and more than two-thirds of the recommended daily intake of 300 mg of cholesterol. We’d like to emphasize that eggs is one of the few foods to naturally contain vitamin D. The white provides a good source of high-quality protein (about 6 grams per egg)with all essential amino acids.

Eggs are calorie-wise food

More than half the calories found in eggs come from the fat in the yolk. A 100 gram serving of eggs provides 155 calories of food energy. An average male of 19-30 needs 2,400-2,600 calories; 31-50 requires 2,200-2,400 calories; and over 50 needs 2,000-2,200 calories each day. Do the math!

Since eggs are nutrient rich, 2 eggs are equal to one serving from the meat food group.

Eggs have low level of saturated fat and no trans fat

An egg normally has 5g of fat, however, only 27% of the fat is saturated fat (palmitic, stearic and myristic acids). So, eggs can easily fit into your daily fat recommendation.

Eggs have high level of Omega-3 fatty acids

Eggs rich in omega-3 fatty acids may help in the protection against cardiovascular disease.

Without cholesterol our body is a “body”

Cholesterol is an important substance for the body and performs various functions. Cholesterol is an essential component of cell membranes, a building block for all steroid hormones. It’s vital to proper brain function and helps to protect against depression. But because cholesterol was found in arterial plaques, which are closely connected with heart disease (by the way, cholesterol is one of many other components of arterial plaques), it was erroneously suggested that cholesterol is the guilty one. Our body is working hard to produce cholesterol, and the cholesterol production is not the thing that it is doing for nothing.

Low-cholesterol diet is not a good idea

Surprised? Don’t be! The idea to cut cholesterol intake to lower its level has done more harm to our health than good, because it is completely opposite to the way our body actually works. Our body produces cholesterol itself using cholesterol from the food we eat. It is estimated that at any given time about 70% of the total cholesterol is produced in our body. When it’s not enough cholesterol coming from our diet, it makes our body work harder to produce it.

The funny thing about cholesterol is that people with higher cholesterol levels have been found to live longer than those with lower levels.

No hard evidence about the eggs’ bad health effects

• Cholesterol level: There are controversial results over whether eggs present a health risk: some researchers suggest dietary cholesterol increases the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol – High-Density Lipoproteins), while majority of others prove that eggs do not increase heart disease risk in healthy individuals. It has been found that the earlier link between eggs and blood cholesterol level was grossly exaggerated, because one egg contains just 1.6 grams of saturated fat and no trans fat.
• Cardiovascular risk: Up to date, there are lots of findings suggesting that consumption of up to 1 egg per day is unlikely to have substantial impact on the risk of heart attack or stroke among healthy people, and demonstrating no correlation between moderate (six per week) egg consumption and cardiovascular disease. Others (not many) say just the opposite: eating eggs increased blood levels of a metabolite promoting atherosclerosis and causing higher risk of heart attack and stroke.

• Type two diabetes: Studies have shown conflicting results about a possible connection between egg consumption and type two diabetes: some scientists suggest that high levels of egg consumption are associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, and others find no link between egg consumption and type 2 diabetes.

Cholesterol form eggs is not the main culprit of heart disease

Cholesterol from food is usually called dietary cholesterol. Not too long ago, the egg industry suffered from bad press surrounding dietary cholesterol and heart disease. It was thought that dietary cholesterol was the main reason for high blood cholesterol levels.

It’s a proven fact that there are lots of reasons why you may have high blood cholesterol levels such as wrong diet, lack of physical activities, some health condition, smoking, medications, and others.

Health departments of Canada, US and UK, which set their national nutrition guidelines, state that cholesterol is no longer considered a nutrient of concern for over-consumption

To prevent or treat cardiovascular disease, it is of utmost importance to limit your consumption of foods high in bad cholesterol, saturated fat and trans fat.

How many eggs can you eat in a day?

Chicken eggs are relatively high in cholesterol – one egg contains about 160-180 mg (which is found mostly in the yolk), but the effect of egg consumption on blood cholesterol is minimal when compared with the effect of trans fats and saturated fats.

As with most foods, you have to eat with measure (to have pleasure): eggs should be eaten in moderation. Balance your diet: if you love eggs, then limit other foods with cholesterol, saturated and trans fat.

An average healthy person (we mean no high blood pressure, diabetes or a history of heart or kidney disease) can eat “an egg a day”.

Enjoy it! Don’t even think that you are at risk of heart disease.

Yes, eggs have been rehabilitated: they are safe to add to a heart-healthy diet. However, this fact doesn’t give you license for five-egg-bacon-wrapped omelets for breakfast.