How many calories does an egg have? It will depend on how it is cooked; if it is poached, scrambled, boiled or fried. However, this superfood needs to be a part of our daily diet. One of the most pervasive health myths of our time is that eggs are bad for your cholesterol, and therefore your heart. While it is true that eggs are a source of dietary cholesterol, almost every study published in the last 30 years, shows that dietary cholesterol plays little role in the risk of cardiovascular disease. Far from being the bad guy, eggs are a superhero and cutting them out or limiting them from your diet may have a negative impact on health.
Firstly, eggs are a fabulous source of good-quality protein. The protein in eggs is also very easy for your body to absorb and utilise, which is good news if you have health or digestive issues. Eggs are also a brilliant source of vitamins A, D, E and K, and B6 and B12, which are heart-friendly as they help to keep homocysteine at healthy levels.
Eggs supply all essential amino acids for humans (a source of ‘complete protein’), and provide several vitamins and minerals, including retinol (vitamin A), riboflavin (vitamin B2), folic acid (vitamin B9), vitamin B6, vitamin B12, choline, iron, calcium, phosphorus and potassium. Although not as abundant as red meats, eggs are a source of CoQ10 depending on how they are prepared.
Furthermore, egg yolks contain phosphatidyl-choline (PC), which is important for every cell in the body, most notably liver function, cardiovascular function, brain and memory function and energy production. In pregnant women, choline is particularly critical because it has a massive impact on brain and memory development of the foetus. Women in the lowest quartile for dietary choline intake had four times the risk (compared with women in the highest quartile) of having a baby with a neural tube defect.
Egg yolks also contain the multi-tasking mineral, sulphur, used in the liver for detoxification and elimination, and also good for hair, skin and nails, as well as the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin which are important for your eyes.
So, if you’ve been ordering egg-white omelettes all these years, you may have been doing yourself a disservice. While there’s lots of protein in egg whites, all the really great nutrients are found in the yolk!
But despite a generally glowing report on eggs, they are not for everybody. If you have an autoimmune condition, or certain inflammatory skin conditions like eczema, the proteins in eggs may aggravate your immune system and inflammatory responses. Allergic reactions against egg white are more common than reactions against egg yolks.
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