How many eggs it is okay to eat? Do I need to worry about the cholesterol? Should I eat egg whites only? Why do people do that anyway?
If you’re looking for a protein-rich breakfast, eggs are the most popular option. Scrambled, hard-boiled, sunny-side-up, deviled, or in omelets and frittatas, eggs are one versatile food. And a nutritious one too. A large egg contains 70 calories, 5 g fat, 0 carbs, and 6.3 g of the highest quality protein you can get. Eggs also are good sources of vitamins A, D, and E, riboflavin, B12, and folate. You also get minerals like selenium, phosphorous and iron. All this and eggs are still one of the most inexpensive sources of protein out there.
Why, then, do eggs get a bad rap? Well, that same large egg also contains 211 mg of cholesterol, about 70% of your daily limit for most people. And who just eats one egg, anyway? But does eating eggs actually increase your blood cholesterol, or more importantly, increase your odds of heart disease? Not as much as we used to think.
It’s a fact that having high blood cholesterol isn’t desirable. In particular, having a high LDL fraction (low density lipoprotein, also called “bad” cholesterol) is a problem because it causes plaques to form on the inside of arteries, restricting bloodflow over time. Some people have higher LDL, some have lower, and most people fall in the middle. But the more we learn about cholesterol regulation, and how to keep people’s arteries free and clear, the more we discover that eating cholesterol itself isn’t really the problem! Let’s leave the egg topic for a moment….
Much of the cholesterol circulating in your blood isn’t coming from the food you ate, it’s made by your liver. What makes your liver put out more cholesterol (and more of the bad kind?)
1. Genetics. Thank mom and dad if you have healthy bloodwork, because you inherit genes which pay a big role in your liver’s cholesterol output.
2. Lifestyle and Diet. You have a big role to play here too: lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise can boost the “good” HDL cholesterol and lower the LDL “bad” cholesterol. The good cholesterol helps clear buildup from your vessels and get it out of your body. One of the best ways to boost that good cholesterol is to exercise! So put that on your list of motivations to get your heart pumping regularly.
Now, for the diet part. If eating cholesterol isn’t the issue, what is? Well, it’s actually the fat you eat. And more than the total amount, it’s the types of fat you consume. Saturated and trans fats are the bad guys. Saturated fat increases LDL (bad) cholesterol output from the liver, and trans fat does the same- plus it lowers your HDL (good) cholesterol! Eeek. So if you have a personal or family history of cardiovascular disease, learn which foods are high in these two types of fat and reduce your intake. Aim for zero trans fat, and less than 20 grams saturated fat per day.
It’s not all bad news: some foods actually can improve your cholesterol levels. You’ve heard about how healthy olive oil is: one of the reasons is that it’s rich in monounsaturated fats. The same goes for avocado, so don’t be afraid to enjoy some guacamole tomorrow while watching the Superbowl. These types of fat improve your good cholesterol levels. Moderate alcohol intake (1 or 2 drinks/day for women and men respectively) is also a way to boost your HDL levels and help your ticker keep ticking. (Which I bet you can also find while watching the game- but remember that moderate part!)
Back to the egg topic. Where do they fall in sat fat and trans fat? How about the good fat? Well, eggs have zero trans fat, you find that in processed foods. They do have 1.5 grams saturated fat per egg, but also 1.9 grams monounsaturated fat, more of the good fat than the bad. Things aren’t looking so glum now for you egg lovers, huh?
Studies show that consuming one egg a day doesn’t have any effect on LDL cholesterol, and actually can boost your HDL. Consuming more than 7 eggs a week seems to slightly increase risk for cardiovascular disease, so try to cap it at one a day. If you have eggs once a week, no problem, enjoy! But if you have several eggs every morning, consider swapping out some of the whole eggs for egg whites. Since all the cholesterol (and fat) is in the yolk, egg whites don’t count toward your 7 eggs per week guideline. To keep the taste, try one yolk and two whites instead of 2 eggs.
If separating eggs seems like a pain, try a cholesterol-free egg substitute like Egg Beaters (which is basically egg whites with some natual yellow coloring), or liquid egg whites, such as Pappetti Just Whites. An added bonus of skipping the yolks is that egg whites have much fewer calories, only about 15 calories per white, or 120 per cup of substitute.
As with everything, your genes may allow you to eat more than 7 eggs per week and always maintain healthy cholesterol levels. On the other hand, if you or someone in your family has had heart disease, you might want to err on the cautious side and keep it to fewer. Either way, start by knowing your numbers. Ask your doc for a physical and bloodwork.
Hope that clears some things up for you! Coming up soon, we’ll take a deeper look into dietary strategies to reduce cholesterol without drugs.
Related posts:
Eggs in Germany are fresh with ORANGE yolks and thick albumin, indicating good health of the hen, and a healthier egg for you. They sell them unrefrigerated, since eggs come in their own sterile package. In the US, try to get your eggs from a local farmer or small-time operation where the hens are getting proper nutrition. Or raise some hens yourself! You’ll get more bang for your buck nutritionally with each egg.
Right on Barb! When I visited Tanzania a couple years ago I found that the eggs had pale yolks-almost white! Scrambled eggs in Africa looked just like scrambled whites- indicating much less vitamin A for the poor chickens.
Thanks for the input- keep us posted on other European food facts!