Among the many health myths that perpetrate popular consciousness is that eggs are bad for your heart. The real dish, however, is that this food doesn’t only decrease heart disease risks, but also hold a number of health benefits.

Eggs Are Not Bad For Your Heart or Cholesterol

An Int’l Journal of Cardiology March 2005 study reveals that in healthy adults, eating eggs every day DID NOT produce (1) a negative effect on endothelial function, an aggregate measure of cardiac risk, and (2) an increase in cholesterol levels.

The researchers studied 49 adults, assigning them to eat two eggs or oats every day for six weeks. Through this, they assessed the effect of egg and oat ingestion on endothelial function.

The specific findings say that six weeks of:

• Egg consumption had no effect on LDL or total cholesterol

• Oat ingestion significantly lowered levels of both LDL and total cholesterol

Thinking Healthy? Eggs Are the Way to Go

Top natural health expert Dr. Joseph Mercola agrees that eggs improve bad cholesterol.

Dr. Mercola also refutes the popular believe that eggs are not good for you. He specifically points to raw eggs as the healthy way to go.
“I am a fond proponent of using raw eggs as a major food in your diet. Raw whole eggs are a phenomenally inexpensive and an incredible source of high-quality nutrients – protein and fat, for instance – that many of us are deficient in,” Dr. Mercola says.

Selecting your eggs, however, is a different story and requires the following insights:

• Choose free-range organic eggs. Check the box or labels to know that you’re getting only the healthy eggs.
• Omega-3 on your eggs is a plus! Though unnecessary in your eggs, Omega-3 may hold additional benefits.
• If possible, contact the company producing your healthy eggs.  As eggs are only organic when the chicken is fed organic food, you can double-check and ask your supplier. You wouldn’t want the chicken source to be fed with grains that have high, bioaccumulated levels of pesticides. If flaxseed is used to increase the Omega-3 fats, it won’t be as beneficial as when the chicken is fed seaweed or kelp with beneficial DHA and EPA.
• Purchase eggs directly from farmers. Dr. Mercola recommends this for ensured quality. If this isn’t possible, then organic eggs from the store would be the next best option.
• It is wise NOT to refrigerate your eggs. “If you have ever been to Europe or South America and gone into the grocery stores you will know that this is commonly done in those countries,” says Dr. Mercola.

Eggs are probably one of the most demonized foods in the United States, mainly because of the misguided idea implied by the lipid hypothesis that eating egg yolk increases the cholesterol levels in your body.

Because of the unhealthy egg myth, American egg consumption has gone down in the last 40 years. If you still believe this old wives’ tale, you’re missing out on the important health benefits that the egg provides, not to mention, a great breakfast.

Numerous nutritional studies have dispelled the myth that you should avoid eating eggs. A study conducted by the Yale Prevention Research Center showed that egg consumption did not have a negative effect on endothelial function – a measure of cardiac risk – and did not cause a spike on cholesterol levels. The participants of the Yale study ate two eggs per day for a period of six weeks.

A new study from the University of Alberta found that proteins in fried and boiled eggs may actually help decrease blood pressure. The researchers used a model stomach and small intestine to recreate the conditions of acidity, temperature and enzymes found in a human digestive system.

They then sent fried and boiled eggs through the simulation and discovered that the egg proteins can be converted into peptides with a special function known as ACE-inhibiting activity. ACE inhibitors block the conversion of a compound which constricts blood vessels, thereby improving blood flow and blood pressure. The fried egg proteins displayed better ACE-inhibition abilities than boiled egg proteins, which could be attributed to the higher cooking temperatures for fried eggs, and the more even distribution of the heat.

Looking beyond the egg-cholesterol controversy and to set the record straight, what are the benefits of eating eggs?

Believe It: Eggs Are Good For You

Why are eggs a healthy food? Here are the benefits of including eggs into your diet:

• One egg contains 6 grams of high quality protein and all 9 essential amino acids

• Eggs are one of the few foods that contain naturally occurring vitamin D (24.5 grams).

• Eggs are good for your eyes because they contain lutein and zeaxanthin, antioxidants found in your lens and retina. These two compounds help protect your eyes from damage caused by free radicals and avoid eye diseases like macular degeneration and cataracts.

• Eggs are a good source of choline (one egg contains about 300 micrograms), a member of the vitamin B family essential for the normal function of human cells and helps regulate the nervous and cardiovascular systems. Choline is especially beneficial for pregnant mothers as it is influences normal brain development of the unborn child.

• Eggs may help prevent breast cancer. A study shows that women who ate at least 6 eggs weekly reduced their risk of breast cancer by 44 percent.

• Eggs may help promote healthy hair and nails due to their high sulphur content

• Eggs also contain biotin, calcium, copper, folate, iodine, iron, manganese, magnesium, niacin, potassium, selenium, sodium, thiamine, vitamin A, vitamin B2, vitamin B12, vitamin E and zinc.

Now that you have an idea of the benefits of eating eggs, it’s time to learn …

The Best Way to Consume Eggs

Dr. Mercola recommends separating the egg yolks from the whites, eat the yolk raw and cook the whites. He explains that if you eat the whole egg raw or just raw egg white, you may not get enough biotin (vitamin B7), which is needed to form fatty acids and glucose for the production of energy in your body. Biotin also helps metabolize carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Egg yolks contain biotin but egg whites also contain a protein that blocks the absorption of biotin, so it’s not a good idea to eat the whole egg raw.

Salmonella is not an issue when it comes to eating raw eggs because only one in every 30,000 eggs is contaminated with the virus. That’s 0.003 percent of the estimated 69 billion eggs produced annually in the U.S. Eggs infected with salmonella are rare because chickens with infected ovaries tend to stop laying eggs.

If you don’t like eating raw eggs, it’s best to soft boil them instead. Avoid scrambled eggs because scrambling them will oxidize the cholesterol in the egg yolk. Also, egg protein is easily damaged by mixing or blending.

Choose free-range organic eggs. It’s best to directly buy your eggs from a local farmer.

Dr. Mercola also strongly advises you to avoid omega-3 eggs because they are actually less healthy and is not the proper way to optimize your omega-3 levels. The hens are usually fed poor-quality sources of omega-3 fats that are already oxidized. Also, omega-3 eggs are more perishable than non-omega-3 eggs.

You also don’t need to refrigerate your eggs because they tend to lose some of their nutritional value this way.

So, does eating more than one egg a day keep the doctor away? There’s no need to go that far because it’s always best to eat something in moderation, even for health foods.