Eggs - to eat them or not?

[Guest guest]

Here's a little more on why eggs are nothing to be afraid of from one of the wonderful newsletters I to!

 

Linda

 

This is still highly confusing. Are we supposed to eat eggs or aren't we? The controversy has been raging for years. Growing up I thought eggs were good for me. Then, suddenly my father banned them from the house because he was concerned about heart disease and wanted to watch his cholesterol levels. Now, I've been hearing that eggs do not affect cholesterol levels, and that they're even good for me. So which is it? We may never know for sure, but Dr. Wright has told me some very useful information on this topic that I'd like to share with you. First of all, you must keep in mind that cholesterol is not an enemy. In fact, we couldn't live without it. It's a complex fatty substance found in every living cell. It provides the building blocks from which the body makes its own supply of sex and adrenal hormones. Cholesterol can also be converted to vitamin D in our body and used for the calcification of bones and teeth. And as far as heart disease goes, although Dr. Wright doesn't deny that having high serum cholesterol is a risk factor for heart disease, if you take a look at some of the rather striking changes in the average American's diet during the past 15 years, you might raise an eyebrow when it comes to all the negative publicity given to the egg in recent years. Namely, consumption of vegetable oils has increased markedly in the American diet, while consumption of animal fats has declined. Per capita consumption of eggs, butter, and fatty meats has also declined. But in spite of these shifts, cardiovascular disease has increased! This may only suggest that other risk factors are playing an increasingly important role in heart disease, but further research suggests that it also says something important abouteggs.Scientists at Kansas State University have published the first evidence that the absorption of cholesterol is actually reduced by a compound in the egg called lecithin. Using an animal model that closely mimics human physiology, these researchers found that a particular substance in the egg called a phospholipid interferes with the absorption of egg cholesterol and markedly lowers its uptake by the intestine. They found that even though a good amount of cholesterol is consumed when an egg is eaten, much of it becomes unavailable for absorption in the presence of this substance. The bottom line is this: Less absorption means less cholesterol introduced into the blood. Dr. Wright concurs. He feels that eggs have taken a "bad rap" for entirely too long. In two studies he told me about, individuals were asked to eat two dozen or more eggs weekly, and their serum cholesterol readings were checked before and after. In both studies, all those eggs did not significantly change serum cholesterol in approximately 80 percent of individuals tested.

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