A few months ago I was delighted to read the opinion of a food columnist on the lowly egg. I was heartened to note that he had recommended eggs unreservedly for reasons of taste, thereby getting them some space in drawing room conversations. It is an irony that this tasty and nutritionally loaded food has been branded — in popular perception — as a highly unhealthy food. Like many foods, eggs have almost become nutritional untouchables. The notoriety of eggs stem from reports of an almost ancient vintage, which concluded that they could affect the human heart. Fortunately there have been many other recent studies that do not seem to make such categorical conclusions. In fact, they seem to suggest that no significant correlation exists between egg consumption and the increased risk of heart disease. Fact is, there is far better and healthy nutrition associated with eggs than with most foods. One single egg contains five grams of fat, of which only two grams is of the saturated variety. Some of the nutrients in the egg yolk are actually heart friendly. For instance, lecithin present in yolk actually lowers bad cholesterols. The carotenoids present in it are better absorbed than those from vegetarian sources and these nutrients have shown evidence of preventing heart disease. It is true that one egg yolk contains approximately 200 mg cholesterol and most dietary guidelines for adults recommend limiting daily cholesterol to 300 mg. So those who have high cholesterol levels should limit their intake of eggs to not more than one per day till the emerging evidence is better assimilated and leads to modified recommendations for egg consumption. Recent studies seem to indicate that dietary cholesterol that comes from eggs induces little or very modest changes in blood cholesterol. Quite interestingly, this holds true for those who have normal cholesterol values as well as for those who have raised blood cholesterol.nsingh.rxpress@expressindia.com
