by Elisa Bressan

Created on: September 16, 2007

The eggs has been rehabilitated, somewhat and some controversial points about it I would debate on this article. Once upon a time, eggs were considered the perfect food.When experts first recognized the the connections between cholesterol and heart disease, people were discouraged from eating eggs, but it is wrong. They are an excellent source of protein, iron, and phosphorus, and eggs are high in important nutrients, such as vitamins B12, E,D, riboflavin and folate. In addition,they are inexpensive and low in calories (70 per egg). But they have an Achille Heel.They yolk has more per ounce, by far,than any other food. So, in 1960's, when the cholesterol/heart disease connection became a public health concern, we were advised to restrict our egg consumption to one egg a week.

The weekly limit of one egg was later increased to three eggs by the America Heart Association(AHA)mainly because the restriction was considered too difficult to maintain.Many studies come from two large Harvard University studies that looked at the egg consumption of almost 40,000 men and about 80,000 women, after taking into consideration other dietary patterns and risk factors.The researchers found that folks who ate one egg a day, were no more likely to develop heart disease, or stroke, than those who consume one egg a week, or less and still healthy individuals respond quite differently to cholesterol in their diets. There are also exceptional people who seem to be totally unaffected by dietary cholesterol. An additional complication is that most of cholesterol circulating in our blood is not from our diets, because it is manufactured by our livers.
The point is that people shouldn't go back to the typical Western diet like a breakfast with two eggs, bacon, sausage,butter and toast, because this kind of diet is very unhealthy. The recommendation therefore is no more four eggs a week.
Limit total cholesterol consumption is 300 milligrams a day ( each egg is about 215 milligrams). It is important to do exercise and to maintain a healthy body height, because this can positively affect blood cholesterol levels.
Remember also that saturated fats ( found in butter,cheese and meat products) and trans fats( found in margarine and other products including crackers,cookies,pastries, cakes, doughnuts,french fries,potato chips and puddings) have been shown to increase the bad cholesterol in our blood. The most important point is that typical American diet contains these products and in large quantities, so you haven't give up eating egg, but it's good for you thinking "small", less quantity of everything when you eat.
The bottom line remains that eating an egg puts you close to the recommended daily limit for cholesterol, so you need to make sure to round out your other food choices with heart-healthy selections like fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
Cooking tip:substitute egg whites for egg yolks. One egg yolk contains just over two-thirds of the recommended daily limit for cholesterol. In most recipes, you can use two egg whites or egg substitutes in place of one egg.

Learn more about this author, Elisa Bressan.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.