Eggs are back. According to the Egg Nutrition Center, more than 30 years of research has shown that healthy adults can eat eggs without significantly affecting their risk of heart disease or stroke.

The most commonly eaten eggs are chicken eggs, but quail, duck, and turkey eggs are also eaten worldwide.  Chicken eggs are either white or brown, depending on the color of the hen's earlobes and feathers.  Hens with white earlobes and feathers lay white eggs, and hens with red earlobes and feathers lay brown eggs.  They both provide the same nutrients.

5 Reasons to eat eggs:

1. Eggs are an inexpensive source of high quality protein. Protein is an essential nutrient that forms the building blocks of muscles, blood, skin, and most body structures. Protein acts as antibodies, enzymes, and hormones.  With a high satiety value, protein foods help you to feel full.

2. Eggs are nutrient rich. One egg has 13 essential nutrients in varying amounts, including protein, vitamin B12, riboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamin D, choline, folate, iron, and zinc.

3. Eggs are low in calories. One egg contains only about 75 calories.

4. Eggs are good for your eyes.  Egg yolks contain the beneficial caretenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, two antioxidants that help protect eyes from ultraviolet rays and reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration and cataracts.

5. Eggs are good for brain development and memory.  Eggs contain choline, which is known as the memory vitamin. 

Eggs are lower in cholesterol than previously thought. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), one egg contains about 213 milligrams of dietary cholesterol.  The current recommendation is that cholesterol be limited to less than 300 milligrams for people with normal LDL (bad) cholesterol levels.  Therefore, one whole egg can fit within heart-healthy guidelines for those people, but cholesterol from other sources, such as meats, poultry and dairy products, should be limited.  People with high LDL blood cholesterol levels or who are taking blood cholesterol-lowering medication should try to eat less than 200 milligrams of cholesterol per day, according to AHA. 

Egg whites are high in protein and low in fat and cholesterol. Egg whites are great substitutes for whole eggs and may be used together with whole eggs to boost protein and vitamins without adding extra fat and cholesterol.  In cooking, use two egg whites in place of one whole egg.  For baking, a tablespoon or less of canola oil can be added for a moister finished product. Cholesterol-free egg substitutes are basically egg whites with oil added. 

 

 


 

Sources:

1. 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life by David Grotto, RD, LDN,  Bantam Books, NY 2008

2. www.eggs.ab.ca/about/eggnutrition.htm

3. Understanding Nutrition, Tenth Edition by Eleanor Noss Whitney and Sharon Rady Rolfes, Wadsworth Group, 2005

4. www.enc-online.org

5. www.americanheart.org