The Reasons Eggs Are Good For You

I grew up in England in the 1960s, and I remember the slogan “Go to work on an egg”, as will many people my age, but I never really gave it much thought – maybe that was the intention, given that the slogan was created for the Egg Marketing Board.

But now, decades later when I’ve become more interested in health and nutrition, I began to wonder why eggs are so good for us.

And this article answers that question, so here are the main benefits of eating eggs.

Nutrients

In general, eggs are absolutely packed with all sorts of nutrients, as you can see from this breakdown on the USDA website.

In essence, eggs contain almost all of the nutrients your body needs – in one convenient package.

For example, proteins are essential for life, and one egg contains about 12.5% protein – that’s one eighth – and most of that is contained in the albumen (or egg white).

In fact, they supply the nine amino acids (out of a total of 21) that your body cannot manufacture by itself.

Some of the minerals we need (e.g. iodine and selenium) can be somewhat hard to find, so eggs are a great way to obtain those.

Anaemia

This is a condition caused by problems with haemoglobin, a component of red blood cells that is used to transport oxygen around your body.

Eggs, because they contain iron, can help manage this issue.

Antioxidant Properties

Eggs contain various antioxidant elements (e.g. vitamin A, lutein, and zeaxanthin), all of which help prevent damage from free radicals.

Bone Health

Eggs are great for bone health, helping to prevent conditions such as osteoporosis.

Brain Health

One of an egg’s key components is choline, which is needed not only to build healthy cell membranes, but also for neurological development and to maintain brain health.

In addition, they contain vitamin D, which is also good for your brain (as well as many other functions).

Energy

Between the egg yolk and white, there are a range of B vitamins (e.g. 2, 3, 5, 6, and 12), all of which are required to help convert food into energy.

And one egg contains about 70 calories (or more, depending on how you cook it).

Eye Health

Some of the same elements that are antioxidant in nature also help protect your eyes (e.g. from cataracts and macular degeneration).

Growth

Eggs are the perfect food to help our bodies grow and develop, and that is largely thanks to the high protein content as well as the minerals and vitamins.

Heart Health

While there are those that claim the high cholesterol content of eggs is bad for your heart, they are ignoring the type of cholesterol involved.

Eggs can actually help increase the good HDL cholesterol while lowering the bad LDL cholesterol.

In addition, depending on how the hens were raised and fed, they can contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, and these help to reduce triglyceride levels in your blood, which is good because high levels of these esters are a known risk factor for heart disease.

And one study found that people who ate one egg per day on average were almost 30% less likely to die from hemorrhagic stroke than those who ate none.

Muscle Health

Proteins are required to build muscle and to ensure they are strong, resilient, and have endurance.

Some proteins are better than others for this task – and the ones found in eggs are more or less perfect.

Skin Health

There are those who swear by the use of egg whites and egg yolks as a facial mask to help treat for acne, as you can see in this video (you only need to watch the first three minutes or so if you’re short on time):

Weight Management

The high protein content of eggs means they are very filling, for their size, and that helps you to avoid overeating by making you feel satisfied for longer.

Additional Notes

1. The current recommendation is to eat at least one egg five times a week.
2. Although people usually talk about eggs from hens, you can, of course, also go for bantam eggs (which are basically just smaller versions of chicken eggs), duck eggs, goose eggs, ostrich eggs, quail eggs, or turkey eggs if you’d prefer. And don’t forget about fish eggs, often called roe. Caviar (from sturgeons) is the most well-known (and usually expensive), but there are plenty of other varieties (e.g. ikura, kazunoko, masago, mentaiko, sujiko, tarako, tobiko), which you’ll often find in sushi dishes.
3. There are no nutritional differences between brown eggs and white eggs.
4. Although the method of preparing the eggs (e.g. baked. boiled, fried, omelettes,poached, raw, scrambled) can affect the calorie count (e.g because you’re adding fats such as butter), the overall nutritional value remains much the same. I choose to have mine scrambled, as I’ve written about here.
5. Consuming raw eggs is often considered dangerous, especially for the very young and the elderly, as well as those who have existing health issues, partly because of the risk of bacteria such as salmonella (even though current estimates put that risk at only 1 in 20,000). Having said that, raw eggs are also reckoned to be one of the healthiest ways to consume them, since heating foods can destroy some of their nutrients.
6. As mentioned above, eggs are high in cholesterol, so if you suffer from hypercholesterolemia, you may want to consult a doctor or nutritionist before increasing your egg consumption.
7. If you have kidney disease, then the protein overload from eating too many eggs can make your condition worse.

Conclusion

In summary:

1. Eggs are a great source of so many of the nutrients our bodies need.
2. They are versatile – you can prepare them in all sorts of ways and add them to many different dishes.
3. They contain no sugars and no carbohydrates.
4. And they are affordable – regular eggs can cost around $2 per dozen, while free-range organic eggs (which I prefer to buy) cost anywhere from $4 – $6 per dozen.