For years, we were told to be careful about eating eggs because it was believed they raised blood cholesterol that, in turn, increased the risk of cardiovascular disease. Research, however, shows that this is not the case. In fact, eggs are one of nature's most nutritious foods with significant health benefits for most people.

One large egg contains only 5 g of fat, of which only 1.5 g are saturated. (Saturated fats are found in many prepackaged foods such as cookies, crackers, chips, whipped toppings, as well as in many baked goods.) Eggs contain no trans fat. (Trans fats are found in baked goods, packaged snack foods, margarines that contain hydrogenated oils and deep-fried foods.) Each egg has only 71 calories and, according to Dieticians Canada, "the vitamin and mineral content is incredibly high, making it a very nutrient-dense food."

There is increasing evidence that eggs offer us significant health benefits :

• Eggs are an excellent source of choline, an essential nutrient that plays a role in brain development and memory.
• Egg yolks also contain carotenoids (pigments in plant and animal foods) that have been shown to protect against macular degeneration, a serious age-related eye disease.
• Egg yolks are also one of the few foods that naturally contain vitamin D, which enhances the work that calcium does to keep our bones strong.
• Eggs, especially yolks, also contribute about 6 per cent of the folate we need every day. Folate, or folic acid, helps prevent both birth defects in infants and heart disease in older adults.
• More recently, researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston, found preliminary evidence to suggest that teenage girls who regularly eat eggs are less likely to develop breast cancer later in life.

According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, healthy people can eat eggs "in moderation" without causing any harmful effects on their blood cholesterol. There is still, however, a general consensus that dietary cholesterol should be limited to 300 mg/day. An egg contains more than two-thirds of the recommended daily cholesterol limit, which means an egg a day can fit into a heart-healthy diet only if that diet is low in other sources of cholesterol. The Heart and Stroke Foundation says people who already have high cholesterol can eat as much egg white as they like, "but they should limit themselves to two egg yolks a week."

For more information about eggs or cholesterol, visit www.HealthyOntario.com.

February 2004

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