If your health and fitness goals include losing weight or gaining lean muscle, eggs are likely to be a part of your diet. Although scrambling eggs or making hard boiled eggs does not take hours, it can be time consuming if you eat five to six small meals a day. Eating raw eggs, although less appetizing, may save committed dieters a significant amount of time.
Health Risks
According to Dr. Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., and clinical nutrition specialist, the chances that you will eat an egg contaminated with salmonella is very unlikely. Bowden claims that he eats raw eggs on a regular basis and the health risks are greatly overstated. A 2002 study in "Risk Analysis" by the US Department of Agriculture confirms this, reporting that only .03 percent of about 69 billion eggs produced annually are contaminated with salmonella. Bowden claims that the chance of getting salmonella food poisoning from organic eggs or eggs from cage-free chickens is basically impossible. Only sick birds produce contaminated eggs.
Health Benefits
In his book "The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth," Bowden lists eggs among the very most nutritious foods that you can eat. The protein from eggs is considered the most biologically available protein. In other words, your body is able to use egg protein better than protein from any other sources, Bowden explains. He encourages you to eat at least some of the yolks as well and "stop with the egg white omelets." The yolk contains the majority of vitamins, minerals and essential nutrients such as choline. Choline helps prevent the accumulation of cholesterol and fat in your liver. Besides protein and choline, eggs are a good source of lutein, vitamin B-2, vitamin B-12 and selenium.
Cholesterol Concerns
Many people have come to prefer egg whites because they do not have any fat or dietary cholesterol. Bowden explains that egg yolks have gotten a bad wrap because the yolk contains all the dietary cholesterol that was once thought to put your health in jeopardy. As the Harvard School of Public Health explains, for most people dietary cholesterol, or the cholesterol in food, will not significantly affect your blood cholesterol levels. The majority of cholesterol circulating in your bloodstream is actually made by the body. Your cholesterol levels are more greatly affected by the amount of saturated and trans fatty acids that you consume.
Considerations
Although dietary cholesterol has been shown to have far less of a significant impact on your overall cholesterol, you should not take that as a "green light" to eat all the dietary cholesterol that you want, especially if you have heart disease or other risk factors for heart disease such as high triglycerides. Consult with your doctor before making full-scale changes to your diet. If you are consuming high amounts of dietary cholesterol on a daily basis from food sources such as chicken or meat, you may want to replace those foods with eggs rather than adding eggs to your diet.
References
- "The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth"; Jonny Bowden, Ph.D.; 2007
- "Risk Analysis"; An overview of the Salmonella enteritidis risk assessment for shell eggs and egg products.; BK Hope, et. al; 2002
- Dr. Jonny Bowden; 10 Superfoods for Weight Loss (Part Two)
- Harvard School of Public Health: Fats and Cholesterol: Out with the Bad, In with the Good
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