Proven Health Benefits of Eating Eggs Based on Evidence
The protein contained within eggs make them ideal for building strong muscles, as well. Egg proteins are balanced and easily utilized by the body to renew muscle tissue and up the amount of muscle mass—and the same cannot be said of all proteins.
Eggs Boost Brain Health and Keep you Sharp
Because of an essential nutrient called choline, eggs can also give your brain power a boost.
A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at 1,391 volunteers between the ages of 36 and 83 and found that increased dietary choline was associated with improved cognitive function, including visual and verbal memory.3
Additionally, a British Journal of Nutrition study of more than 2,000 adults in their 70s found positive associations between increased choline and better performances on cognitive tests of perception speed, cognition, sensory motor speed and executive function.
Eggs are rich source of choline: one whole large egg can provide 35 percent of your daily choline needs — which is good news, because according to a study published in The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, 90 percent of Americans do not get enough of it.6
Eggs also contain other nutrients that can delay Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Eggs can Prevent Heart Disease and Breast Cancer
A study performed by scientists from the Department of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that the choline that eggs contain is not only useful for maintaining good brain function, but also good heart function and may play a preventative role when it comes to breast cancer.4
These results were published in the November 2009 edition of the Nutrition Reviews journal, again bringing to light the question of how a food once so reviled for its cholesterol content could be associated with having a positive impact on heart health.
There are other foods that can prevent breast cancer like these seeds and this type of fat.
A Word about Eggs and Cholesterol
You may have heard that eggs are bad for people who are trying to watch their cholesterol levels.
Although this was thought to be the case for more than half of the 20th century, recent findings have shown that eating eggs can actually have a beneficial impact on blood cholesterol and even triglyceride levels.
The reason eggs were long thought to be a poor food choice for people trying to keep cholesterol levels in balance is that eggs are, indeed, high in cholesterol. However, there is little evidence to support a strong connection between dietary cholesterol—i.e., eating cholesterol in the form of eggs—and blood cholesterol levels.
A study from 2006 published in the Journal of Nutrition discovered that 33 participants over the ago of 60 who ate 1 egg per day for 5 weeks increased nutrients that boost eye health (lutein and zeaxanthin) without affecting cholesterol levels.
A 2008 study published in the Upsala Journal of Medical Sciences looked at a group of 19 middle-age, healthy participants who ate a whole egg every day for one month. Researchers found no difference in the participants’ cholesterol levels at all.
In fact, a 2013 study published in the journal Lipids showed that eating whole eggs actually increased levels of HDL (good) cholesterol, and allowed the HDL molecules to function more effectively. For HDL, higher numbers are always welcomed. HDL prevents heart disease and stroke.
How Many Eggs should you Eat each Day?
According to mayo clinic, most healthy people can eat up to seven eggs a week with no increase in their risk of heart disease. Some studies have shown that this level of egg consumption may actually prevent some types of strokes.
But the story is different for people who have diabetes. In this ever-growing population, eating seven eggs a week significantly increases the risk of heart disease.
The Mayo Clinic states that diabetics who eat seven eggs per week “significantly” increase their risk of heart disease. A 2010 analysis published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology stated that participants in the Physicians’ Health Study who became diabetic during the course of the 20-year study were twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease if they ate one egg per day.7
If you like eggs but don’t want the extra cholesterol, use only the egg whites but be aware that although the yolk of the egg contains all the cholesterol, it also contains many of the egg’s nutrients. So be sure to eat the yolk from time to time even if you are eating in a cholesterol-conscious way.
