Forget who came first, the chicken or the egg. The most important question is: Is egg good or bad for your health?
A question worth asking because egg is a universal favourite when one talks about having a breakfast that is healthy and easy to make says Celebrity Dietitian Avni Kaul. The importance of asking questions goes even higher if one is facing weight-related issues such as obesity or if one is suffering from cardiovascular diseases or is afraid that his heart health may not be good or is simply leading a sedentary lifestyle and yet loves eating eggs.
Sadly, science cannot seem to settle on a certain answer to that. In 2020 a huge Harvard analysis consisting of 2, 15,000 people found that consuming one egg each day was not linked with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Now, another study of more than 500,000 participants has found eating even a portion of a whole egg — having its cholesterol-filled yellow yolk — boosts the risk of dying from all causes, including cardiovascular disease and cancer.
In fact, the overall risk of death had gone up by 7% for every additional half a whole egg consumed each day, according to a study featured in PLOS Medicine. (Source: https: // journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003508). Though it is still skeptical.
India’s top Dietitian for cardiovascular health and weight management, Avni Kaul, opines in spite of several years of research this question regarding eggs and health has never been answered, with several observational studies over the last few decades indicating conflicting results — some suggesting moderate egg consumption is good, while others say it may be bad.
The study outcomes are problematic since, they only asked participants once about their egg consumption, then followed them for several years without bothering to check if their diet had changed
Thus, the conclusions of the study are out of proportion. Blaming eggs only for an increased risk of heart disease is a simplistic and reductionist method to the idea of diet and disease prevention.”
What do eggs replace?
The poultry sector has long lauded the “wonderful, edible egg.” For only 75 calories, they say, an egg provides 7 gm of high-quality protein, 5 gm of fat, and 1.6 gm of saturated fat, besides iron, vitamins, minerals, and disease-countering nutrients such as lutein and zeaxanthin.
Eggs are popular across all the classes whether one is from an affluent income group or any other. Eggs are affordable, making them an economical nutritional powerhouse for families with limited food budgets. Multiple people on popular low-carbohydrate diets such as keto also depend heavily on eggs in their daily meal plans.
The problem, certainly, is the level of cholesterol in the yolk of eggs: One large egg yolk can give about 185 mg of cholesterol.
Cholesterol is not an apparition. Formed in the liver, cholesterol is in each cell in the body and is utilized to make hormones, vitamin D, digestive components, and more. Sometimes an individual’s body can make excessive cholesterol, leading to a formation of waxy plaque in blood vessels which results in cardiovascular disease.
There is a role played by cholesterol in your diet, but it is more problematic than one used to think.
Nutritional guidelines also recommend an upper limit of 300 mg of cholesterol per day. Now guidelines recommend consuming as little as possible by keeping saturated fats below 10% of daily calories.
The essence is to look at the overall nutritional advantages and disadvantages of the food, as well as the things the food is replacing in your diet. Take fish, for instance. Fish has cholesterol but also gives essential omega-3 fatty acids essential for optimal health.
And saturated fats through butter, whole dairy, and fatty cuts of meat have a lot more profound effect on increasing levels of LDL (low-density lipoproteins) in the blood compared to sources of dietary cholesterol like eggs. If anyone replaces eggs with doughnuts, other sources of refined starches, and sugar or saturated fats, eggs may be a better option.
However, for someone who really wishes to be in optimal health, putting the stress on plant-based protein sources such as steel-cut oatmeal and nuts would be a decent alternative. Certain groups of the population may want to watch their consumption of eggs, however.
Someone who is having a hard time while taking medication for their blood cholesterol levels would perhaps be better off keeping eggs on the low side. Eggs do not have to be fully eliminated, but the advice of not more than two eggs a week for most individuals is actually still a good recommendation.
If one has Type 2 diabetes, one needs to be wary as well. The 2020 Harvard study saw a higher consumption of eggs by people having Type 2 diabetes was linked with increased cardiovascular health risk, an association that has been duplicated in earlier studies.
What regarding egg whites?
Can egg yolks be safely replaced with whites? The new PLOS study found that replacing half a whole egg with an equal amount of egg whites or egg substitutes lowered the number of deaths from cardiovascular diseases by almost 3%.
However, the recommendation made by the authors to replace whole eggs with egg whites or substitutes is not supported by the absoluteness of evidence available. The majority of studies have not seen eggs without yolk mostly because the consumption of only egg whites is quite low in the general population. The lowest risk is by substituting eggs with nuts and plant-based sources of protein.
It could be said this study alters the general advice. For most individuals, eggs could be eaten in moderation as part of their balanced diet unless a person has been advised not to for a certain medical or dietary reason.
Most importantly, moderate consumption of any food is always key in maintaining good health and the same goes for eggs. Eggs could be potentially healthy but going overboard never helps. It is advised to talk to your nutritionist before you decide to include or exclude eggs from your diet.
