The lowdown on eggs

MysticalSoul

I am finding myself confused as to how beneficial / unhealthy eggs are. I know they are an excellent and easy form of protein, and growing up I always heard no more than 2-3 eggs a week. However, lately I have read that despite common misconceptions, you can actually eat more eggs than that. I do have some weight to loose, but do workout so am wondering what the general consensus is.

Many thanks.

saa

I was eating two eggs a day sometimes while I was tracking the nutritional value of my food, unless you have high or raised cholesterol I don't think it is a problem.

I've heard very conflicting opinions on the eggs thing, I think one a day or two every two or three days shouldn't be that harmful but you see the egg a day is ok thing wants to sell more eggs, so I would be more confident in seeing some independent research.

There's plenty of other ways to get protein that isn't eggs or meat if its protein you're worried about, I wouldnt eat a lot of eggs just to keep under my recommended limits

arse..biscuits

I eat 4 to 6 eggs a day and no problems.

Kadongy

The question is not how many eggs you eat but how much cholesterol you eat. Eggs yolks have significant amounts of cholesterol in them.

Taking wikipedia as an arbitrary source for RDVs and nutrional information: 300mg RDV cholesterol; 214mg cholesterol in a large egg. So the hypothetical maximum number of eggs is just under ten a week if you eat no other cholesterol at all.

Orla K

Kadongy wrote: »

The question is not how many eggs you eat but how much cholesterol you eat. Eggs yolks have significant amounts of cholesterol in them.

Taking wikipedia as an arbitrary source for RDVs and nutrional information: 300mg RDV cholesterol; 214mg cholesterol in a large egg. So the hypothetical maximum number of eggs is just under ten a week if you eat no other cholesterol at all.

It's neither really see this thread for cholesterol

as for how many eggs, as many as you want. Scrambled eggs for breakfast are fantastic when you want to lose weight, fills you up nicely.

SteelyDanJalapeno

I'd have up to 40 eggs per week,

Kadongy

Orla K wrote: »

It's neither really see this thread for cholesterol

as for how many eggs, as many as you want. Scrambled eggs for breakfast are fantastic when you want to lose weight, fills you up nicely.

I had a glance at that thread and it appears to be arguing that saturated fat is unrelated to heart disease. I didn't mention saturated fat. Is there anything in it about cholesterol consumption or are you confusing cholesterol and saturated fat?

Orla K

Kadongy wrote: »

I had a glance at that thread and it appears to be arguing that saturated fat is unrelated to heart disease. I didn't mention saturated fat. Is there anything in it about cholesterol consumption or are you confusing cholesterol and saturated fat?

I haven't read it in a while but I think it go's on to talk about cholesterol. May have been a different thread, I do remember one around the same time about eggs, anyway I'm just back from the gym, tired, hungry, sore, waiting for my aunt to arrive and at the moment I don't care enough to find the right bits/thread.

El_Dangeroso

Dietary cholesterol reduces the amount of cholesterol you produce in the liver. Eat less cholesterol, and your liver will make more to compensate.

Eggs are exceptionally nutritious and good for you, I love them but I'm intolerant to them.:(

Kadongy

Orla K wrote: »

I haven't read it in a while but I think it go's on to talk about cholesterol. May have been a different thread, I do remember one around the same time about eggs, anyway I'm just back from the gym, tired, hungry, sore, waiting for my aunt to arrive and at the moment I don't care enough to find the right bits/thread.

Any papers I find suggest that eggs do increase your serum cholesterol quite a lot. The one I was looking at just now states that the specific profile of fatty acids and cholesterol in eggs causes a particularly high and fast increase in serum cholesterol.

But yeah. The consensus on this thread appears to be fairly extreme dietry advice from people who dont seem to know what they're talking about.

There might be a bit of a double standard in having a [sensible] "no medical advice" rule while having no special regulation on the dietry advice that can be dished out.

Mack_1111

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

Dietary cholesterol reduces the amount of cholesterol you produce in the liver. Eat less cholesterol, and your liver will make more to compensate.

Eggs are exceptionally nutritious and good for you, I love them but I'm intolerant to them.:(

Not true with everybody! Some people are missing the feed back loop that slows down the production of cholesterol with respect to the intake of dietary cholesterol.

Tigger

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

Dietary cholesterol reduces the amount of cholesterol you produce in the liver. Eat less cholesterol, and your liver will make more to compensate.

Eggs are exceptionally nutritious and good for you, I love them but I'm intolerant to them.:(

me too so i eat duck eggs

El_Dangeroso

Kadongy wrote: »

Any papers I find suggest that eggs do increase your serum cholesterol quite a lot. The one I was looking at just now states that the specific profile of fatty acids and cholesterol in eggs causes a particularly high and fast increase in serum cholesterol.

But yeah. The consensus on this thread appears to be fairly extreme dietry advice from people who dont seem to know what they're talking about.

There might be a bit of a double standard in having a [sensible] "no medical advice" rule while having no special regulation on the dietry advice that can be dished out.

Most papers you'd find saying that are epidemiological in nature and most people who don't listen to the advice on limiting eggs don't listen to lots of other healthy eating advice, the unhealthy user bias goes beyond anything that can be controlled with by statistics.

Here is a graph from a paper originiating from the Frammingham study, one of the longest, largest cohort studies examining diet and heart disease:



(Apologies for the huge graph, too lazy to resize it)

Bugger all difference in the cholesterol levels between any of the groups.

Blood cholesterol is tightly regulated via homeostatic mechanisms. This is a biological fact and not controversial or 'extreme' in the slightest.

In fact, eggs are a rich source of choline, which helps the health of the liver. The liver contains the LDL receptor which is responsible for clearing LDL for the liver. LDL that hangs around in the blood stream for too long becoming small dense and oxidised is considered to be one of the most compelling theories for the development of heart disease.

No credible scientist would tell you that dietary cholesterol increases serum cholesterol long term, the idea was thoroughly debunked in the 1980's but the myth still persists.

"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." - Mark Twain

Kadongy

Thanks for the reference. the paper is online free with no sub: http://www.jacn.org/content/23/suppl_6/596S.full.pdf

In the study, "high" consumption of eggs was classed as 7 or more per week. The single highest consumer ate 24 per week. To quote the paper:

It should be pointed out, however, that only 5% consumed more than 2 eggs/day. The effect of a very high egg consumption (eg 6 eggs/day) was therefore not measurable in this population

So the paper that is the basis of the assertion that eating as many eggs as you like is fine and 40 a week does not assert any such thing. In fact, it specifically points out that it is not evidence of any such thing.

It goes on to state that cholesterol intake from other sources in the population of the study was negligible and concludes:

What must be concluded, however, is that physicians who wish to lower the serum cholesterol levels of patients in an attempt to prevent or delay the onset of therosclerotic disease, must be concerned with their entire dietary intake.

which supports my own point rather than the very extreme recommendations that unrestricted cholesterol intake is actually good for you and forty eggs a week is no problem.

Frogdog

I eat between 25 to 30 eggs a week, usually boiled, scrambled or poached, and have been eating them at this level for the last 3-4 years. I have my cholesterol checked every three months in work (we have this service for free), however it only shows the total cholesterol figure. It has always been within the "healthy levels" as per the guidelines that the nurse has to hand.

She's amazed, as she "knows" that "one egg a day is ok", and that anymore and I'd be damaging my health. I try to teach her that no natural, fresh, nature-made, wholesome food is bad for you. I'll continue with my persuasion and "fight the good fight".

El_Dangeroso

Kadongy wrote: »

Thanks for the reference. the paper is online free with no sub: http://www.jacn.org/content/23/suppl_6/596S.full.pdf

In the study, "high" consumption of eggs was classed as 7 or more per week. The single highest consumer ate 24 per week. To quote the paper:



So the paper that is the basis of the assertion that eating as many eggs as you like is fine and 40 a week does not assert any such thing. In fact, it specifically points out that it is not evidence of any such thing.

It goes on to state that cholesterol intake from other sources in the population of the study was negligible and concludes:




which supports my own point rather than the very extreme recommendations that unrestricted cholesterol intake is actually good for you and forty eggs a week is no problem.

You are using a quote of the author's opinion rather than the actual evidence that the data show there is no linear relationship between dietary cholesterol and heart disease.

Unless you are suggesting that there is some sort of threshold, in which case where is the evidence of that? (actual data on cardiovascular events rather than opinion would be nice thx)

All the evidence I've see in the short term effect of cholesterol raising effect of dietary cholesterol is that the effect tops out at about the equivalent of 3 eggs a day. Again I'd simply LOVE to see evidence to the contrary.

I always know someone is talking through their hat when they start to scaremonger with words like 'extreme'.

Kadongy

Yes of course there's a threshold.

The high group was on average within the threshold in the quoted study, and nobody was very far beyond it. the average intake was 9.2 eggs per week with negligible other cholesterol intake. The size of the eggs does not appear to have been specified. Just under 10 large eggs a week is equivalent to the RDV I quoted.

It's not scaremongering to use the word extreme in this context it is descriptive.

Take your pick of studies indicating that eating a lot of cholesterol tends to lead to high cholesterol. Mental idea that it is and all. All those vegetarians dying of heart disease and people munching down burgers well into their nineties.

My threshold for arguing against onanistic ****e has been reached. Ignore common sensible knowledge and follow fads based on misinterpretted studies so you feel special in some way.

shannie

An egg a day is healthy..

El_Dangeroso

Kadongy wrote: »

Yes of course there's a threshold.

The high group was on average within the threshold in the quoted study, and nobody was very far beyond it. the average intake was 9.2 eggs per week with negligible other cholesterol intake. The size of the eggs does not appear to have been specified. Just under 10 large eggs a week is equivalent to the RDV I quoted.

It's not scaremongering to use the word extreme in this context it is descriptive.

Take your pick of studies indicating that eating a lot of cholesterol tends to lead to high cholesterol. Mental idea that it is and all. All those vegetarians dying of heart disease and people munching down burgers well into their nineties.

My threshold for arguing against onanistic ****e has been reached. Ignore common sensible knowledge and follow fads based on misinterpretted studies so you feel special in some way.

Haha! So that's your way of saying that you have no evidence of a threshold then.

Linking to a google search, that's classic. Oh look! There's no needles in that haystack!:D

And..so.. the true agenda emerges, you're a vegetarian. I should have known. Cholesterol scaremongering is the cornerstone of veggie psuedo-science.

Ok so, pop quiz.

Who eats more dietary cholesterol, vegans or lacto-ovo vegetarians?

Who lives longer? The answer may surprise you..;)

Inspector Coptoor

I have 30-40 eggs per week.
And yeah, I was thinking that what many whole eggs per week would be a bit much so now Im using 3 whole egss scrambled and the whites equivalent of 3 eggs so i guess im eating 15-20 whole eggs and seeing as the whites are mostly albumin, Im happy enough

Kadongy

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

Haha! So that's your way of saying that you have no evidence of a threshold then.

Linking to a google search, that's classic. Oh look! There's no needles in that haystack!:D

And..so.. the true agenda emerges, you're a vegetarian. I should have known. Cholesterol scaremongering is the cornerstone of veggie psuedo-science.

Ok so, pop quiz.

Who eats more dietary cholesterol, vegans or lacto-ovo vegetarians?

Who lives longer? The answer may surprise you..;)

ffs lacto octo vegetarians dont have high cholesterol diets. They live a lot longer typically than meat eaters and vegans who have similar mortality rates while people who eat fish only live slightly longer than lacto octo vegetarians - probably because the specific omega 3s in fish are the only nutrient that is not available in a vegetarian diet. [Other omega 3s are plentiful]

And again research is misrepresented to suggest high cholesterol diets are ok when again it does no such thing - in fact it supports the opposite idea.

google search is fine, it answers your query. Your posts are onanistic, annoying and misrepresentative. Must stop posting on this forum as again I am just annoyed by the pure w@nk I find myself confronted with.

El_Dangeroso

Kadongy wrote: »

ffs lacto octo vegetarians dont have high cholesterol diets. They live a lot longer typically than meat eaters and vegans who have similar mortality rates while people who eat fish only live slightly longer than lacto octo vegetarians - probably because the specific omega 3s in fish are the only nutrient that is not available in a vegetarian diet. [Other omega 3s are plentiful]

And again research is misrepresented to suggest high cholesterol diets are ok when again it does no such thing - in fact it supports the opposite idea.

google search is fine, it answers your query. Your posts are onanistic, annoying and misrepresentative.

Health conscious vegetarians live as long as health conscious meat eaters on average. The difference is health consciousness, not meat. Why is that so hard to understand?

You linked to google because you had no evidence of a threshold. If that is not the case, then link to specific trials that show a certain threshold. Simples.

Orla K

This is now reminding me of The Heap (sôritês) paradox 'how many stones make a pile' or in this case how many eggs is healthy/unhealthy, if say, 20 eggs is unhealthy is 19 healthy, maybe 18? 17?...

moonage

As they say, too much of anything is bad for you. I wonder what the limit for eggs is.

I would imagine 3 per day is fine but what would the effect of 20+ per day be?

eggs are great, eat them all. nom nom nom.

Simples

howtomake

Frogdog wrote: »

I eat between 25 to 30 eggs a week, usually boiled, scrambled or poached, and have been eating them at this level for the last 3-4 years. I have my cholesterol checked every three months in work (we have this service for free), however it only shows the total cholesterol figure. It has always been within the "healthy levels" as per the guidelines that the nurse has to hand.

She's amazed, as she "knows" that "one egg a day is ok", and that anymore and I'd be damaging my health. I try to teach her that no natural, fresh, nature-made, wholesome food is bad for you. I'll continue with my persuasion and "fight the good fight".

Hmm, I'm the same with my egg consumption, (maybe we should set up our own co-op chicken coop, feed them the best flax seed & such). Hopefully all the eggs translates into a heavier front squat for me too .

I had my cholesterol checked early this year, was normal. But might get it checked again next time I need to go to the doctor.

Antomus Prime

I'd eat approx 40 eggs a week, but usually i'd mix 2 whole eggs with an extra 4 whites before a workout and then the same for lunch. Havent gotten my cholesterol checked in ages... should really get it looked at

mad m

Last year I started to up my egg intake, due to the fact I was doing gym work in morning times and it was very easy to do scrambled eggs or poached, some mornings I would have porridge...Got a cholestrol test done and Im 5.1 and the LDL is 3.3......hmmmmm not great, just a little high....

charlemont

I drink two eggs with milk everyday, Probably not the done thing but I haven't dropped dead yet.

Andromeda_111

I love eggs and I eat a lot of them. However, I am conscious of the fact that I should be looking at balancing the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 (1:1 being ideal). The problem with eggs is that there is a hell of a lot more omega 6 in them so you need to try to balance that out with the rest of your diet.

metamorphosis

mad m wrote: »

Last year I started to up my egg intake, due to the fact I was doing gym work in morning times and it was very easy to do scrambled eggs or poached, some mornings I would have porridge...Got a cholestrol test done and Im 5.1 and the LDL is 3.3......hmmmmm not great, just a little high....

And can you prove to was the eggs? Correlation rarely leads to causation with these things. Not to mention the cholesterol in eggs doesn't lead to a direct increase in cholesterol in the body. Did you have a similar test done last year to compare? And plus your lifestyle, sleep, stress and rest of your diet will have a much much much higher effect.

I eat on average 20ish eggs a week in some shape or form, my cholesterol profile is very good, but then i try to limit my stress and get some sleep, im very active and don't do the dog on processed foods

mad m

^^ Well dont have a cholestrol test to compare, haven't had one done since god knows when until recently....My diet I believe is good.(bread is gone,loads of greens etc), I take Omega 3 plus Magnesium for a sounder sleep, plus I get some vitamins into me. Since about last year I've increased my Gym (totaly newbie) to 4 times a week mostly mornings. plus I try and do at least 8k/10k in pool a week as well....

Gone from 92kg to 79kg since I've started gym workouts...

howtomake

mad m wrote: »

I take Omega 3 plus Magnesium

Is that some sort of 2 in 1 supplement you take? Sounds good if it is & where can I get it:)

mad m

howtomake wrote: »

Is that some sort of 2 in 1 supplement you take? Sounds good if it is & where can I get it:)

Sorry its just the Omega 3 on its on through the day, take the mag couple hours before bed....:)

Tira

Nature designed the perfect food. Yes, there is cholesterol in the egg yolk. But there is also lecithin which emulsifies the cholesterol and aids in breaking it down into smaller bits to be used or excreted. Eggs have gotten a bad rap for no reason, except for commercial reasons.

CerebralCortex

arse..biscuits wrote: »

I eat 4 to 6 eggs a day and no problems.

Three fried eggs, fried in butter every day for breakfast. For the record, they're omega 3 enriched eggs. Not all eggs are created equal.

kleine_schwein

Is it possible to eat too many egg whites? I rely on them for protein and eat about 5 a day (have 1/2 a yolk a day or a full one every 2 days).

metamorphosis

Knock yourself out

But dont be afraid of the yolk, thats where the nutrition is, 1/2 a yolk seems a bit pedantic, have a full one everyday at least!