Eating eggs increases weight and height — to a point. Eggs are loaded with important nutrients that can influence growth. They are a good source of calories, protein, and specific vitamins and minerals, all of which help you reach your maximum height and promote weight gain.
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Eggs are a good source of high-quality nutrition that can support growth and healthy weight gain, but they won't necessarily have a big effect on your height and weight.
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Eggs Increase Weight and Height
Eggs provide a number of essential nutrients that can support height and weight gains. The calories in eggs can help meet your increased calorie goals for weight gain. They are also a good source of high-quality protein that can help you reach your full genetic height. Finally, important vitamins and minerals can support your body as it grows as well as your overall health.
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Eggs are an excellent source of nutrients to help you gain height and weight. But they are also a source of fat and cholesterol. A March 2013 study in Metabolism found that eating up to three eggs a day had no major health impact and did not increase blood cholesterol.
Additionally, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health reports that cholesterol does not affect heart health as once believed. If you have high cholesterol, talk to your doctor or dietitian for help in figuring out how eggs can fit into your diet plan.
How Diet Influences Height
Between 60 and 80 percent of your final height is determined by your genetics, according to the National Institute of Health's Genetics Home Reference. This means that other factors, such as nutrition, only influences about 20 to 40 percent of your height.
Protein, found in eggs, is a major predictor of height especially for children, according to a September 2016 study published in Economics and Human Biology. This study found that protein is the most important macronutrient in determining height and weight in early childhood.
Other vitamins such as vitamins A and D, are especially important during periods of growth. Vitamin A is needed for cell replication, while Vitamin D plays a role in strengthening and growing bones. As a source of these nutrients, eggs play a role in helping you reach your maximum potential height. However, eating more eggs cannot help you grow taller than your genetic potential.
How to Gain Weight
To gain weight, you need to eat more calories than your body burns each day. First, you need to know how many calories you are burning. Daily calorie needs range from 1,600 to 3,000 calories a day and vary depending on gender, age and activity, according to the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
In order to gain weight, you would have to consistently eat more than your daily calorie needs. Although many different variables determine weight gain, in general if you eat 3,500 calories more than what you burn, you should gain approximately one pound. In order to meet the 3,500 calorie goal, this would translate to consuming about seven eggs per day in addition to your normal diet, though this is probably too many to eat every day.
Increasing your egg consumption to seven a day is probably not the best way to eat eggs for weight gain. Instead consider just adding one or two a day along with other healthy protein options.
Read more: What Really Determines How Much You Weigh?
Nutrients in Eggs
One large, hard-cooked egg has 78 calories, 6 grams of protein, 5 grams of fat and 187 milligrams of cholesterol, though the nutritional value of eggs may vary slightly based on the size.
The protein found in eggs is high-quality and complete, which means it contains all of the essential amino acids your body needs to build new tissues. All the body's tissues are made up of amino acids; therefore, you need the right raw materials to increase both height and weight.
Eggs are also rich in many vitamins and minerals that can help support healthy growth. They are a good source of riboflavin, selenium, vitamin A, D, E, B12, choline, folate, pantothenic acid and phosphorus. Vitamin D is hard to find in most foods, but eggs are one of the richest food sources of this important vitamin that can help strengthen bones to increase height.
- Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: "Eggs and Heart Disease"
- Health.gov: "Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2015-2020"
- Metabolism: "Whole Egg Consumption Improves Lipoprotein Profiles and Insulin Sensitivity to a Greater Extent Than Yolk-Free Egg Substitute in Individuals With Metabolic Syndrome"
- National Institutes of Health: "Vitamin A"
- National Institutes of Health: "Vitamin D"
- Economics and Human Biology: "Early Life Height and Weight Reduction Functions With Endogenous Energy and Protein Inputs"
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