Guest guest Posted April 7, 2004 Report Share Posted April 7, 2004 The Egg And You By Tallmadge My grandmother's favorite food in the whole wide world was eggs. She loved eggs so much, we named an egg after her. The " grandmommy egg " was soft-boiled, for three minutes. As it sat in an egg cup, we would slice off the top third so the runny yolk would form a delicious and naturally creamy sauce for the white. Unfortunately, during the last decades of her life, my grandmother came to see eggs as poison and avoided one of her real food pleasures. Health authorities were warning the public against eating eggs for fear that they were a major cause of high cholesterol levels -- the bad kind, low-density lipoprotein, known as LDL -- and increased risk of heart disease. New studies show that the caution may have been an exaggeration. Yes, increased blood cholesterol levels can raise the risk of heart disease. Eggs are high in dietary cholesterol. But does eating eggs raise blood cholesterol and cause heart disease? This is where the story gets somewhat complicated, so stay with me, folks, and I'll try to make sense of all of this. First, the research: Most epidemiological research -- the kind of research that studies large populations over time and analyzes their diets and their health -- has found no connection between eating eggs and increases in heart disease. On the other hand, controlled clinical studies -- where researchers feed subjects specific amounts of cholesterol and measure the effect on blood -- do show a slight increase in blood cholesterol with increases in dietary cholesterol, though how much depends on genetic factors. Cholesterol is an important component of all human and animal cells and influences hormone biology, among other functions. Since your body naturally has all it needs, there is no dietary requirement for cholesterol. But the American diet contains plenty, since we eat a lot of animal products. All animal products contain some cholesterol, but they also contain saturated fat, an even more significant culprit in heart disease risk. " The major determinant of plasma LDL level is saturated fat, " says Alice H. Lichtenstein, professor of nutrition science and policy at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University . And while eggs are high in cholesterol (200 milligrams in the yolk), they're relatively low in saturated fat (1.6 grams in the yolk). " In most people, for every 100 milligrams reduction in dietary cholesterol, one would predict a reduction in LDL levels of 2.2 points on average, " says Wanda H. Howell, professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Arizona. In fact, during my 20 years of counseling people with high cholesterol, just reducing their saturated fat intake to a range of 4 percent to 7 percent of their calories, causes their blood cholesterols to plummet -- a double benefit. Interestingly, the Japanese, the biggest egg-eaters in the world (averaging 328 eggs consumed per person per year), have low levels of cholesterol and heart disease compared with other developed countries, especially the United States. Why? In part, it's because they eat a diet low in saturated fat. Americans do just the opposite. Research has shown that we usually have our eggs alongside foods high in saturated fat, such as bacon, sausage and buttered toast. This meal pattern raises LDL and makes the effect of eating eggs worse than it actually is. So how many eggs can you eat? That depends on a number of factors. The American Heart Association no longer includes limits on the number of egg yolks you can eat, but it recommends that you limit your cholesterol intake to 300 milligrams daily, or 200 milligrams if you have heart disease or if your LDL is greater than 130. You decide where that cholesterol comes from! Other experts go further and say an egg a day is fine. " The amount that one egg a day raises cholesterol in the blood is extremely small, so small in fact that the increase in risk in heart disease related to this change in serum cholesterol could never be detected in any kind of study, " says Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard's School of Public Health. " Elevations in LDL of this small magnitude could easily be countered by other healthy aspects of eggs. " Based on the research, my recommendation is if you eat a healthful diet, go ahead and eat an egg a day. On the other hand, if your cholesterol is high and if you eat the typical American diet -- high in saturated fat, devoid of fruits, vegetables and fiber -- maybe you shouldn't be eating an egg a day. But will taking eggs out of an unhealthy diet make a positive difference? Probably not. I can't tell you how many times during my career I've heard people say, " I've cut out eggs, but my cholesterol is still high! " The impact of a healthy, balanced diet cannot be denied here. Tallmadge is a washington nutritionist and author of " Diet Simple " (Lifeline Press, 2002). Send e-mails to her at food@.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 7, 2004 Report Share Posted April 7, 2004 Hi folks: Well if getting saturated fat down to *** 4% to 7% *** of total calories is desirable, as suggested by the author of that piece, why would she think it would help to eat something of which *** 18% *** of the calories are from saturated fat? Like eggs? All of it, of course, from the yolks. Here are the numbers for one BOILED egg. Naturally, cooked almost any other way the numbers will be worse (Source: Bowes & Church's): Calories 78 Total fat 5.3g = 61.2% of calories! Saturated fat 1.6g = 18.5% of calories! (When all else fails ............. ; ^ ))) Eggs are delicious. I eat them only very rarely. Rodney. > The Egg And You > > By Tallmadge > > ....................... In fact, during my 20 years of counseling people with high cholesterol, just reducing their saturated fat intake to a range of 4 percent to 7 percent of their calories, causes their blood cholesterols to plummet .............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 9, 2004 Report Share Posted April 9, 2004 Hi JW: The following is a fun trick to play on friends who are invited to brunch and are paranoid about fat in their food. I make egg white omelettes that are colored with saffron - a spanish herb/spice. They look just like the real thing as if they contain the yolk! A whole egg is about 50 mls. So I use ~150 mls of egg whites per omelette and leave them overnight in the refridgerator mixed with about 50 'fronds' of saffron (per 150 mls of whites). The saffron is colored red, but the whites absorb the color overnight and have a lovely yellowish hue by morning. Add whatever other ingredients/flavorings you wish. It is worth the look on the guests' faces! Rodney. --- In , " jwwright " <jwwright@e...> wrote: > I make egg white - veggie omelets, and start with 1 tbls of soy oil for my efa's, to sauté the onions, gpepper. > > Soy oil is > 9.8% 16:0, > 5% 18:0, > 42.5 % 18:1 (mono), > 34.9% 18:2 (n-6 efa), > 2.6 % 18:3 (n-3 efa). > > Better than egg yolk, IMO. > > Regards. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Rodney > > Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 2:40 PM > Subject: [ ] Re: speaking of eggs > > > Hi folks: > > Well if getting saturated fat down to *** 4% to 7% *** of total > calories is desirable, as suggested by the author of that piece, why > would she think it would help to eat something of which *** 18% *** > of the calories are from saturated fat? Like eggs? All of it, of > course, from the yolks. > > Here are the numbers for one BOILED egg. Naturally, cooked almost > any other way the numbers will be worse (Source: Bowes & Church's): > > Calories 78 > > Total fat 5.3g = 61.2% of calories! > > Saturated fat 1.6g = 18.5% of calories! > > (When all else fails ............. ; ^ ))) > > Eggs are delicious. I eat them only very rarely. > > Rodney. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 12, 2004 Report Share Posted April 12, 2004 --- In , " jwwright " <jwwright@e...> wrote: " There was no shopping here til walmart put in double doors. " (!!!!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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