Eggs and cholesterol have long been linked as contributors to heart disease. Egg nutrition facts however, don’t add up to the idea of eggs as an unhealthy food. Calories in eggs are among the most nutritious you can eat. Here’s why.
Egg Nutrition Facts
The egg is among the most perfect foods in nature. It contains all essential amino acids (the building blocks of protein), as well as b-vitamins like choline and inositol that are essential to the functions of your brain like learning and memory.
Here is a partial nutritional breakdown for one large chicken egg. I included fats, protein, and certain b-vitamins, because these are the most critical nutrients involved and are the reason you should consume eggs on a regular basis.
- 213 milligrams of cholesterol
- Total Fat – 5.0 grams
- Saturated fat – 1.6 grams
- Monounsaturated fat – 2.0 grams
- Polyunsaturated fats – .07 grams
- Protein – 6.7 grams
- Choline – 216 mg
- Folate – 25.3 micrograms
- Vitamin B12 – .06 micrograms
- Vitamin b-6 – .01 milligrams
- Riboflavin – .025 milligrams
- Niacin – .067 milligrams
- Thiamin – .031 milligrams
- Pantothenic acid – .627 milligrams
Calories in eggs are approximately:
Small egg – 54 calories
Medium egg – 63 calories
Large egg – 72 calories
Extra large egg – 80 calories
Jumbo egg – 90 calories
Cup of raw eggs – 347 calories
Calories in eggs are some of the healthiest you can eat as far as the nutritional benefits they provide you. Don’t use calorie content as an excuse to avoid them, but rather include them in your diet if not daily, at least on a weekly basis.
Remember that organic “free range” eggs where chickens are not penned in small enclosures and are fed organic feed contain less saturated fat and more healthy omega-3 fats. To get the healthiest eggs, buy organic free-range eggs!
The Choline Factor
Choline is an essential b-vitamin that is involved in biochemical reactions affecting brain health, health, and inflammation. This substance is so important that deficiencies can contribute to greater risk of heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and even cancer.
Eggs are THE best food source for the benefits of choline, so rather than being bad for your health, eggs are actually necessary for health of your brain and heart! The association between eggs and cholesterol made many people avoid eggs, and some researchers suspect this might even be a contributing factor to the increase in Alzheimer’s disease.
The calories in eggs are among the most nutrient dense in nature, and your health demands that they be included in your diet if you want to safeguard the health of your brain and heart.
The Truth About Eggs and Cholesterol
The truth about cholesterol is that it is a substance that is natural to your body and very necessary. Medicine made it out to be something bad and unhealthy, but in reality you could not survive without it, and egg nutrition facts bear this out!
Cholesterol is vital to the function of your brain and is used in other complex biochemical reactions that allow your body to function normally. Extremely low cholesterol levels have been linked with cancer!
Cholesterol got a bad rap because people with heart disease were found to have cholesterol deposits in the walls of their arteries. Doctors then assumed that cholesterol caused heart disease and eggs and cholesterol they should be avoided.
We now know that even though cholesterol can clog arteries, the real cause of heart disease is inflammation, and when the inflammatory process damages the walls of your arteries, you body uses cholesterol to try to repair the damage, in much the same way you would use plaster to repair the walls in your home.
Since eggs actually help decrease inflammation by providing the necessary b-vitamins that your body needs for proper methylation, you need to include them in your diet to maintain your cardiovascular health.
Healthy Cooking and Eating of Eggs
Because eggs have so many vital nutrients in them, which are damaged by heat and mechanical stress (such as scrambling or even worse, frying), you need to be careful how you prepare them.
The best way is poaching or soft boiling, because even though heat is used this particular cooking technique still minimizes the damage to proteins and b-vitamins in the egg.
There are electric egg cookers on the market designed to prepare eggs this way. Two of the best are the Toastmaster Egg Cooker, and Oster Egg Cookers. These are a quick, convenient, and healthy way to cook eggs properly. They are money well spent!
Eggs and Cholesterol – Summing it Up
Here are some simple rules to remember about using eggs in your diet.
- Eat up to a couple of eggs a day with no problem if you are a healthy person
- Buy organic free-range eggs which are higher in healthy omega-3 fats
- Include eggs weekly if not daily for their vital nutrients and quality proteins
- Cook your eggs by poaching or soft boiling to preserve vital nutrients
- Monitor c-reactive protein and Homocysteine levels not just cholesterol
Don’t let the association between eggs and cholesterol prevent you from consuming one of nature’ most perfect foods. By including eggs regularly in your antiaging diet you will be you will be much healthier overall.
References:
Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2006 Jan;9(1):8-12.
Dietary cholesterol provided by eggs and plasma lipoproteins in healthy populations.
Fernandez ML1.
Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2012 Mar;15(2):117-21. doi: 10.1097/MCO.0b013e32834d2259.
Rethinking dietary cholesterol.
Fernandez ML1.
J Intern Med. 1994 Mar;235(3):249-51.
Egg consumption and high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol.
Schnohr P1, Thomsen OO, Riis Hansen P, Boberg-Ans G, Lawaetz H, Weeke T.
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