A few years ago, health organizations issued a warning about the cholesterol in eggs.
Like many other foods such as coconut oil or avocados, eggs have been wrongly thought to be bad for your health.
While the average large egg offers between 180 and 186 mg of cholesterol, your liver produces between 1000 mg to 2000 mg per day on its own.
In principle, when you consume foods that contain cholesterol, your liver regulates itself by reducing its own production. This means that eating eggs does not increase the existing amounts of cholesterol in your body, you are simply replacing one type with another.
Today, let’s take a closer look at why it’s worth incorporating more of this delicious breakfast food into your diet.
1. Nutrients
When it comes to nutritional value, eggs really give you the most bang for your buck. Loaded with vitamin A, E, B6 and B12, thiamine, riboflavin, folate, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, selenium and so much more, it’s hard to find other foods with such a diverse nutritional profile (1).
2. Cholesterol
The biggest criticism against eggs is that they contain high levels of cholesterol.
However, eggs contain high-density lipoproteins (HDL) which are actually essential for the body and brain.
HDL provides stability in every cell in your body and helps your body produce vitamin D and hormones like testosterone, estrogen, and cortisol (2,3).
Unlike low-density lipoproteins (bad cholesterol), which stick to the walls of blood vessels, HDL cholesterol scrubs the interior walls of vessels and prevents atherosclerosis. It also reduces LDL levels and does not contribute to heart disease or stroke in healthy people, so you can eat as much of it as you want (4.5).
Regular consumption of eggs, however, may increase the likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease in diabetics (6).
So there you have it, the confusion surrounding the HDL health status of eggs and high cholesterol has been debunked (7).
To keep cholesterol levels under control, it is best to simply avoid eating excessive amounts of sugar, exercise daily, maintain a healthy weight, eat more vegetables and quit smoking.
3. Choline
Eggs are an excellent source of choline, an essential nutrient that supports brain and memory development. It is actually a precursor to the neurotransmitter called acetylcholine (8). It is so important for the brain that pregnant women are strongly suggested to take choline supplements to avoid developmental abnormalities in the womb.
Currently, approximately 90% of Westerners are deficient in choline, making them more vulnerable to muscle damage and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (9,10).
4. Keeps Your Eyes Sharp
Eggs contain lutein and zeaxanthin, carotenoid vitamins that are essential for your vision. Together, they reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration, which causes blindness in older people (11).
Carotenoids protect the eyes from damage caused by sunlight, improve night vision, and reduce the risk of developing cataracts by up to 50% (12).
5. Nourishes your muscles
2 eggs provide as much protein as a serving of meat, without exposing you to as much fat and acidity as most meats. Although many diets suggest eating only egg whites for a lean, high protein source, half of the total protein in eggs is found in the yolk (13).
6. Nourishes your bones
Eggs contain both calcium and vitamin D, the building blocks your body needs to maintain bones, especially to ensure bone density. Vitamin D effectively boosts your body’s ability to absorb calcium (14). Calcium is also needed for blood clotting, nerve signals, and muscle contractions (15).
7. Promotes weight loss
Because eggs are nutrient-rich, they are more filling than most foods. They’re also low in calories, making them much more diet-friendly than most protein-rich foods. The Journal of the American College of Nutrition and the International Journal of Obesity both conducted studies that concluded that eating eggs at breakfast can reduce the amount of food you eat later in the day ( 16.17).
This habit also led to weight loss, a greater reduction in waist circumference, and a greater reduction in body fat than other breakfast foods.
Conclusion
What all this means is that adding eggs to your diet is not unhealthy. In many cases, eggs will benefit your body more than you think. Although you shouldn’t try to eat 10 eggs every day, 2 to 3 eggs per day is perfect for healthy people who are trying to stay healthy.
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