Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; eggs, cholesterol & all that

One of the difficulties people face when they are thinking about changing to a starch free diet is the fear of raising cholesterol. My mother has a chalkboard with the dates recording when she has had an egg for breakfast lest she eats more than 2 or 3 in a week. Dieticians used to give this advice, but in recent years studies have shown this to be wrong, so they have backed off. But note the way at the end of this article the dietician repeats like a parrot the mantra about a ''well balanced diet'' - and includes a warning about consumption of meat and dairy in with pastry, cakes etc.



Regular eggs 'no harm to health'

Eggs are packed full of nutrients
Limiting egg consumption has little effect on cholesterol levels, research has confirmed.

A University of Surrey team said their work suggested most people could eat as many eggs as they wanted without damaging their health.

The researchers, who analysed several studies of egg nutrition, said the idea that eating more than three eggs a week was bad for you was still widespread.

But they said that was a misconception based on out-of-date evidence.

There is cholesterol present in eggs but this does not usually make a great contribution to your level of blood cholesterol

Writing in the British Nutrition Foundation's Nutrition Bulletin, they said eating saturated fats was far more likely to cause health problems.

Researcher Professor Bruce Griffin said eggs were actually a key part of a healthy diet, as they were particularly packed full of nutrients.

He said: "The ingrained misconception linking egg consumption to high blood cholesterol and heart disease must be corrected.

"The amount of saturated fat in our diet exerts an effect on blood cholesterol that is several times greater than the relatively small amounts of dietary cholesterol.

"The UK public do not need to be limiting the number of eggs they eat - indeed they can be encouraged to include them in a healthy diet as they are one of nature's most nutritionally dense foods."

While elevated blood cholesterol levels increase the risk of heart disease, only around a third of the cholesterol in the body comes from the diet.

Other factors such as smoking, being overweight and physical activity can influence blood fat and cholesterol levels and heart disease risk.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) dropped its advice to limit egg consumption to three a week in 2007 in light of new evidence.

However, research by the British Egg Information Service suggests 45% of consumers still believe it was sensible to limit consumption.

Victoria Taylor, a senior BHF dietician, said: "We recommend that eggs can be eaten as part of a balanced diet.

"There is cholesterol present in eggs but this does not usually make a great contribution to your level of blood cholesterol.

"If you need to reduce your cholesterol level it is more important that you cut down on the amount of saturated fat in your diet from foods like fatty meat, full fat dairy products and cakes, biscuits and pastries."

Good to know, since I eat about 18 eggs per week...

Hi,
I agree. All my life the men who work hard all day, eat balanced meals, tad bit of red wine seem to be fit. those farmers from the midwest years ago would eat 2-3 egges for breakfast 3 times a week! It is the unnatural stuff from junk food? My down fall.

I know if your "good" cholesterol is to low. They encourage you to eat an egg a day to bring it up. That is true even if the "Bad" is to high. It doesn't seem to affect the bad number either way.