Eggs have a bad reputation because the yolk contains cholesterol.
White, on the other hand, is made up of the highest quality complete proteins, and there are abundant rare and precious substances such as choline, lutein, and zeaxanthin (see below) in the yolk in abundance. good quality, omega-3.
However:
An average egg contains 186 MG OF CHOLESTEROL, which represents 62% of the recommended daily intake.
But in fact, it does not matter. The more cholesterol you eat, the LESS YOUR BODY PRODUCES ITSELF.
Here's how it works.
How Your Body Regulates Cholesterol
People believe that when they eat cholesterol, it increases their blood cholesterol levels and causes heart disease.
But in fact, it is our liver that makes most of our cholesterol.
Cholesterol is so important that our body has developed sophisticated mechanisms to never run out of it. Our liver constantly makes large amounts of cholesterol.
If there is cholesterol in our food, our body makes less. That's all. The liver decreases its production. Your blood cholesterol level is therefore not influenced by your dietary cholesterol, or very little, and temporarily.
I know it's hard to believe. It's like admitting that grains, after all, are not so good for your health.
This is one of those myths that have been told to us since childhood, and which it is very difficult to accept that they are false.
And yet, you can ask any specialist and check the sources I give at the end of the article. What I am telling you is a scientific fact.
And anyway, cholesterol is not bad for health. ON THE CONTRARY!
Without cholesterol, we couldn't exist
Cholesterol is a word with a strong negative connotation.
When we hear it, we automatically start to think about medication, heart attack, early death.
The truth, however, is that cholesterol is a natural molecule that our bodies absolutely need to function.
According to the best French cholesterol specialist, Dr. Michel de Lorgeril, cardiologist, and researcher at the CNRS:
The Cholesterol a precious molecule our organism, so precious that we cannot destroy it, only transform it, for example into steroid hormones or vitamin D. [1] "
Steroid hormones are mainly sex hormones (testosterone, estrogen, progesterone) and cortisol.
Without cholesterol, we could not LIVE.
Cholesterol also enters the structure of cell membranes: you need cholesterol to make each of your cells. Without cholesterol, we couldn't even EXIST!
The first time I went to the United States, I was surprised to see most people throw the yolks out of their eggs, and eat only the white.
They did this to avoid eating cholesterol. This is the advice we gave them in schools, hospitals, on television.
Since then, this advice is no longer taught to medical students, but these nutritional recommendations have only had one consequence: a huge food waste (in a country that did not need to make his case worse).
How many eggs can you safely eat per day daily?
The response of most doctors and nutritionists is 6 eggs A WEEK maximum [2], sometimes even less [3], or even not one per day.
Today, we have excellent study results that put our ideas back in place.
In these studies, people were divided into two groups, one who ate several eggs, up to three a day, the other who ate something else. Then the researchers followed people for several weeks or months.
These studies show that following the consumption of eggs:
* The total cholesterol levels (HDL + LDL) hardly vary. Sometimes there is a slight increase but does not last [4] [5] [6], and sometimes a slight decrease.
* People who eat good quality eggs (hens fed organic food and rich in omega-3) see their triglyceride levels drop [7] [8], an important cardiovascular risk factor.
* Their blood levels of antioxidants like lutein and zeaxanthin increase significantly. I have often told you about these antioxidants that are good for the eyes because they reduce the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration [9] [10].
The science is clear: eating up to 3 eggs a day is perfectly healthy.
And beyond 3 eggs per day?
Should you eat more than 3 eggs per day?
Well ... nobody knows.
No serious studies have been done on people eating more than three eggs a day. This means that there is no evidence that it does any good, nor that it does any harm.
There is, however, the interesting, well-known case of an 88-year-old man who practically only fed on eggs. He ate 25 a day!
His cholesterol level was normal and he was in perfect health. His case was studied by doctors and reported in the New England Journal of Medicine [11].
Of course, a single case proves nothing. But it's still interesting to know.
The experience of athletes is also interesting: those who practice strength sports (bodybuilding, rugby, combat sports) report that the more they eat whole eggs, the more they improve their recovery and their muscular strength.
Studies have been conducted on the subject: they indicate that muscles damaged by physical exercise literally absorb cholesterol from food and use it to accelerate the regeneration of muscle cells.
Not all eggs are created equal
Even if, from the outside, it is impossible to distinguish an industrial egg from an organic egg, the fact is that their content is not the same.
The best eggs are from free-range hens. They can then eat what they like, namely slugs, earthworms, leaves, seeds. Note that hens love purslane, a creeping "weed" rich in omega-3.
In the wild, THE BIRDS NEVER FED ON CEREALS, and especially not on corn (often transgenic) and always rich in omega-6 already too abundant in our food.
Cereals have the same effect on hens as they do on people: because they are full of carbohydrates that are digested too quickly, they make them obese and sick.
Paradoxically, on supermarket shelves, many consumers are attracted by the labels "cereal-fed chicken" or "corn-fed chicken". They even think these chickens are better, and therefore agree to pay more!
This is a measure of the cynicism of certain breeders who play on the nutritional misinformation maintained by the health authorities, who have not been able to keep up to date since the 1970s.
Eggs and heart disease
Many studies have observed the link between egg consumption and heart risk.
These studies have repeatedly and consistently shown that there is NO LINK BETWEEN EATING EGGS AND THE RISK OF DEVELOPING HEART DISEASE. They involved hundreds of thousands of people and can, therefore, be considered very reliable [12].
Some have even indicated a lower risk of stroke among egg eaters.
On the other hand, it should be noted that researchers have noticed that the more people with diabetes eat eggs, the more they are at risk of having heart disease [13].
This is an exception, but we do not know what is causing it. Because they were observational studies, which are content to observe a correlation (association) between two phenomena. Observational studies do not establish a cause and effect relationship. Perhaps the explanation is that diabetics who eat eggs also pay less attention to their health.
Eating yellow is important
Eating egg yolk is all the more important since there are antioxidants good for the eyes (lutein and zeaxanthin), but also a very beneficial substance for health, choline.
Choline is essential to produce two substances: acetylcholine which plays an important role as well in learning, memory and muscular functioning, and phosphatidylcholine, a molecule used in the composition of the membranes of our neurons and other cells.
However, 90% of people lack choline [14]!
How fortunate, therefore, that the eggs are both so delicious and so easy to prepare, lending themselves to the most varied and refined recipes (scrambled eggs with truffle for example…).
Because in addition to being a festival for the taste buds, they are a blessing for our health.
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