Eggs - The MYTH!

Eggs are packed full of nutrients and are considered one of the most nutritious foods around. I will start off by saying not all eggs are the same, Omega-3 enriched, free range eggs are going to be so much better for you than the eggs that come from caged chickens.

But with eggs being such a nutritional powerhouse, why are people constantly saying...

"You shouldn't eat more than 2-3 eggs a week".

Well eggs contain cholesterol and people believed that the more cholesterol you eat, the higher the cholesterol in your blood therefore increasing heart disease. But this isn't entirely true. Dietary cholesterol (the cholesterol we eat) isn't directly linked with the cholesterol in our blood. Our liver produces cholesterol and when we eat lots of eggs, our liver will simply produce less.

So where did this myth come from? Well it come from a study where people were given eggs to eat every day. Most people's cholesterol levels were not effected, but a very small amount of people (deemed hyper-responders) had a tiny rise in cholesterol levels. However, both HDL ("good cholesterol") and LDL ("bad cholesterol") were raised. So the ratio between good and bad didn't really change.

Cholesterol is VERY important and without it we wouldn't really function. Cholesterol makes bile (to aid digestion), it is used to make our steroid hormones (testosterone & oestrogen) and is an essential part of every cell membrane. 

The problem is that if you get inflammation in an artery, cholesterol will lay over the lesion to protect it. But a constant build up of cholesterol through more inflammation, makes it much harder for blood to pass through, hence raised blood pressure. This becomes a huge problem if a chunk of cholesterol breaks off and flows to an artery/vein that is smaller, this will cause a blockage that will lead to heart attacks and strokes.

So it's not cholesterol that is the problem, its inflammation. Inflammation is caused through a diet rich in junk (processed foods and refined sugars). These foods tend to be high in Omega 6, which is pro inflammatory. This is why there is a buzz around Omega-3 rich foods as these are anti inflammatory and will balance out the ratio between omega 3 & 6.

To finish this off, if you are worrying about the cholesterol in eggs, don't! Worry more about what you eat WITH the eggs, try to avoid pro inflammatory foods like highly processed junk, excessive refined sugar consumption and foods high in trans fat.

Hadee x