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How good is it for health to eat eggs?

 

The egg ... is it good or bad for your health?

If there was something that defined a perfect meal, the eggs would be on the list of candidates.

They are easy to get, simple to cook, affordable and full of protein.

"The egg has all the right ingredients to grow an organism, so it is obviously very rich in nutrients," says Christopher Blesso, Professor of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Connecticut in the United States.

Eating eggs along with other foods can also help our bodies absorb more vitamins.

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For example, one study says that adding an egg to the salad can increase the amount of vitamin E we get from that dish.

But the convenience or not of eating eggs has been a controversial issue for decades since they have a high cholesterol content, which several studies have linked to an increased risk of heart disease.

Egg yolk contains about 185 milligrams of cholesterol, which is more than half of the daily amount of cholesterol (300 mg) that the US dietary guidelines recommended until recently.

Does that mean that eggs, instead of being an ideal food, could actually be hurting us?

The cholesterol dilemma

Cholesterol is present in animal products such as red meat and eggs.

Cholesterol, a yellowish fat produced in our liver and intestines, can be found in each of the cells of our body.

Normally we consider it "bad."

But cholesterol is a fundamental component in our cell membranes. It is also necessary for the body to produce vitamin D and the hormones testosterone and estrogen.

We produce all the cholesterol we need, but it is also found in the animal products we consume, including beef, shrimp and eggs, as well as cheese and butter.

Cholesterol is transported around our body by lipoprotein molecules in the blood.

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Each person has a different combination of several types of lipoproteins and our individual composition plays a role in determining our risk of developing heart disease.

Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, called "bad" cholesterol, is transported from the liver to arteries and body tissues.

The researchers say this can cause a buildup of cholesterol in the blood vessels and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Some fried foods, which contain trans fat, can increase our levels of LDL (or "bad") cholesterol

Therefore, the United Kingdom Health Authority (NHS) recalls that high blood cholesterol content increases the risk of coronary heart disease.

But it emphasizes that the amount of saturated fat we eat has more effect on the level of blood cholesterol than the cholesterol from eggs.

Foods that contain trans fats, in particular, increase our LDL levels.

Although some trans fats occur naturally in animal products, most are made artificially and are found in the highest levels in margarines, snacks and some fried and baked foods, such as cakes and donuts.

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The regulatory body

"If your family doctor or healthcare professional told you to watch your cholesterol level, your priority should be to eliminate saturated fats from your diet" reads the NHS page.

"If you maintain a balanced diet, you should only remove the eggs from it if the doctor told you so."

Together with shrimp, eggs are the only food high in cholesterol and low in saturated fat.

"While the cholesterol in eggs is much higher than in meat and other animal products, saturated fats raise blood cholesterol. This was

proven by many studies for years, "says María Luz Fernández, Professor of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Connecticut, in the USA.

His latest research found no relationship between eating eggs and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Cholesterol is harmful when oxidized, but the antioxidants in eggs prevent that process from happening.

The discussion about the effects of eggs on health has changed in part because our bodies can compensate for the cholesterol we consume.

In a review of 40 2015 studies, researchers at Tufts University in Boston, USA, could not find any conclusive evidence about the relationship between dietary cholesterol and heart disease.

"Humans have good regulation when they consume cholesterol in the diet and will produce less cholesterol by themselves," says Elizabeth Johnson, a professor of Nutritional Science research at that university.

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Cholesterol benefits

And when it comes to eggs, cholesterol can pose an even lower risk to health.

Cholesterol is more harmful when it oxidizes in our arteries, but it is not something that happens to cholesterol from eggs, says Blesso.

"When cholesterol is oxidized, it can be inflammatory, and there are all kinds of antioxidants in eggs that protect it from oxidation," he says.

Also, some cholesterol may be good for us.

High density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) travels to the liver, where it breaks down and is eliminated from the body.

Cholesterol is harmful when oxidized, but the antioxidants in eggs prevent that process from happening.

It is believed that HDL has a protective effect against cardiovascular disease by preventing cholesterol from accumulating in the blood.

"People should worry about the cholesterol that circulates in the blood, which is what leads to heart disease," says Fernandez.

What matters are the proportion of HDL and LDL in our bodies, since high HDL counteracts the effects of LDL.

However, although most of us are able to cushion the cholesterol we consume with the cholesterol that breaks down in our livers, Blesso says that about a third of people will experience an increase in blood cholesterol from 10% to 15 % after consuming it.

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Clinical trials revealed that thin and healthy people are more likely to see an increase in LDL after eating eggs.

And those who are overweight, obese or diabetes may see a smaller increase in LDL and more HDL molecules say Blesso.

So, if you are a healthy person, eggs could have a more negative effect than if you are overweight.

But also if you are healthy, you are more likely to have good levels of HDL, so an increase in LDL would not be very harmful.

Contradictions

... but other studies found that eggs are associated with a lower risk of heart disease.

Research published earlier this year challenges the recent consensus that eggs do not represent any harm to our health.

After observing data from 30,000 adults for an average of 17 years, the researchers discovered that each additional half egg per day consumed there was a significant relationship with an increased risk of heart disease and death.

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The study monitored patients' diet patterns, general health, and physical activity to try to isolate the effects of eggs.

"We found that, for every 300 mg of additional cholesterol a person consumed, regardless of the food, they came from, they had a 17% higher risk of cardiovascular disease and an 18% higher risk of mortality from all causes," says Norrina Allen, one of the study authors who is a professor of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University in Illinois, USA

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"We also found that every half egg per day there was a 6% higher risk of heart disease and an 8% higher risk of mortality."

Although the study is one of the largest of its kind to address this specific relationship between eggs and heart disease, it was an observational work, without giving an indication of cause and effect.

It was based on a single set of data that patients gave: participants were asked what they ate during the previous month or year, and then monitored their health outcomes for up to 31 years.

There are numerous contradictions in how eggs affect health.

This means that the researchers only obtained a still picture of what the participants were eating, even though diets may change over time.

And the study contradicts past results from other research that suggests that eggs are good for heart health.

A previous analysis of half a million adults in China, published in 2018, found the exact opposite: egg consumption was associated with a lower risk of heart disease.

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Those who ate eggs every day had an 18% lower risk of death from heart disease and a 28% lower risk of death from stroke compared to those who did not eat eggs.

Like the previous study, this was also observational, which means that it is impossible to decipher cause and effect. (Are adults in China healthier because they eat more eggs, or do eggs make them healthier?)

Egg Benefits

Choline, found in eggs, can protect us from Alzheimer's disease.

While these studies revived the debate about the impact of cholesterol on eggs in our health, we know that eggs can affect us for other reasons.

Eggs have a compound called choline that can help protect us against Alzheimer's disease. It also protects the liver.

Although it can also have negative effects.

Choline is metabolized by flora (intestinal microbiota) in a molecule called TMO, which is then absorbed into the liver and converted to TMAO, a molecule associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

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Professor Blesso wondered if eating a lot of egg hill could lead to elevations of TMAO and found studies in which it was observed that people had elevated levels of TMAO up to 12 hours after eating eggs.

Research that measures the consumption of eggs and TMAO so far has only found transient increases in TMAO. However, TMAO is measured as a marker of heart disease only at the basic level, which can be detected when people are fasting.

Blesso compares this with the way our blood sugar levels temporarily increase after eating carbohydrates, but high blood sugar levels are only associated with diabetes when these levels are continuous.

Egg yolks are an excellent source of lutein, which is related to vision benefits

This may be because when we eat eggs, we could only get the beneficial effects of choline, he says.

"The problem is when, instead of being absorbed by the blood, the hill continues to the large intestine, where it can become TMA and then TMAO," says Fernández.

"But in eggs, choline is absorbed and does not go to the large intestine, so it does not increase the risk of heart disease."

Meanwhile, scientists begin to understand the other health benefits of eggs.

Egg yolks are one of the best sources of lutein, a pigment that is related to a better view and a lower risk of eye diseases, for example.

"There are two types of lutein found in the retina of the eye, where you can protect it from light damage by functioning as a blue light filter," says Johnson.

While researchers are far from understanding why eggs affect us differently, the vast majority of recent research suggests that they pose no risk to our health and are more likely to provide health benefits.

Even so, eating eggs every day is probably not the healthiest option either.

If the recommendation is that we have a varied diet, it is better not to put all the eggs in the same basket.

It is better not to put eggs in the same basket ...