Tuesday 29 September 2015

EGGS OR NO EGGS?

In the wake of emerging lifestyle diseases like diabetes, heart diseases, overweight and obesity, people have become more conscious on the nutrition label of the food they eat.

Eggs or no eggs is a controversial matter. traditionally, eggs were labelled to have adverse health effect in human body because of its cholesterol content. According to Harvard School of Health, an egg a day does not have adverse health effects in normal population.

Eggs are incredibly nutritious. 

100 grams of hard boiled chicken egg is loaded with:-
Calories.................. 155Kcal
Carbohydrates........ 1.12g
Fats........................ 10.6g
Protein.....................12.6g
Vitamin A, B1, B2, B5, B6, B9, B12, D, E and K
Choline
Minerals like calcium, zinc, sodium, potassium, iron
Cholesterol..............373mg

Eggs and cholesterol

Daily cholesterol requirement is 300mg per day. An egg yolk contain more than two-thirds of the daily cholesterol requirement. Eating food rich in cholesterol does not mean that it is going to be absorbed and raise the blood cholesterol level. According to Harvard Medical School, most of the cholesterol that circulates in blood is synthesized by the liver rather than from the food eaten. In an interview, Walter Willett -chair of Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health- denotes that if dietary cholesterol was raised to one hundred percent, only ten percent will reach blood for use.

Eating an egg a day will not affect cholesterol level significantly for a normal individual unless one takes them in excess. Diabetics and people with high blood pressure may have problem controlling their blood cholesterol level hence should be cautious with eating eggs. 

100 grams of an egg contains 10.6g of fat. 27% of the total fats in an egg are saturated fatty acids which may have more negative implication than the cholesterol itself. According to American Heart Association, eating food rich is saturated fatty acids makes the liver synthesize more cholesterol.

References
Eggs and your health- Harvard Health Publications,Harvard Medical School. Address: http://www.health.harvard.edu/healthy-eating/eggs-and-your-health.
The entire egg- Harvard Gazette. address: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/02/the-entire-egg/
Saturated Fats -American Heart Association. Address: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/02/the-entire-egg/
Eggs and Heart diseases- Harvard T.H Chan, School of Public Health. Address: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/eggs/
Eggs (food)- Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Address: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_(food).