Hard boiled egg anyone?

"Eggs are a good source of low-cost high-quality protein, providing 5.5-6 grams of protein (11.1% of the daily value for protein) in one eggfor a caloric cost of only 68 calories. The structure of humans andanimals is built on protein. We rely on animal and vegetable protein for our supply of amino acids, and then our bodies rearrange the nitrogen to create the pattern of amino acids we require.

Another health benefit of eggs is their contribution to the diet as a source of choline.Although our bodies can produce some choline, we cannot make enough to make up for an inadequate supply in our diets, and choline deficiencycan also cause deficiency of another B vitamin critically important forhealth, folic acid.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture conducted astudy to see what would happen if human subjects received a diet low incholine and folate. Male and female volunteers ate low-choline,low-folate meals that provided as little as 13% of the recommendeddaily allowance of folate. No severe choline or folate deficienciesoccurred during the study, but blood levels of choline decreased anaverage of 25-28% in men and women during the low-choline, low-folateregimes. Levels returned to at least normal when researchers providedmore of these important B vitamins to the people in the tests.

Choline is definitely a nutrient needed in good supply for goodhealth. Choline is a key component of many fat-containing structures incell membranes, whose flexibility and integrity depend on adequatesupplies of choline. Two fat-like molecules in the brain, phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin,account for an unusually high percentage of the brain's total mass, socholine is particularly important for brain function and health.

In addition, choline is a highly important molecule in a cellular process called methylation.Many important chemical events in the body are made possible bymethylation, in which methyl groups are transferred from one place toanother. For example, genes in the body can be switched on or turnedoff in this way, and cells use methylation to send messages back andforth. Choline, which contains three methyl groups, is highly active inthis process.

Choline is also a key component of acetylcholine. Aneurotrasmitter that carries messages from and to nerves, acetylcholineis the body's primary chemical means of sending messages between nervesand muscles.

One large egg provides 300 micrograms of choline (all in theyolk), and also contains 315 milligrams (yes, milligrams notmicrograms) of phosphatidylcholine. Although most sources justreport the free choline at 300 micrograms, it is thephosphatidylcholine that is the most common form in which choline isincorporated into cell membrane phospholipids.

In addition to its significant effects on brain function and the nervous system, choline also has an impact on cardiovascular healthsince it is one of the B vitamins that helps convert homocysteine,a molecule that can damage blood vessels, into other benign substances.Eggs are also a good source of vitamin B12, another B vitamin that isof major importance in the process of converting homocysteine into safemolecules.Eggs are high in cholesterol, and health experts in the past counseledpeople to therefore avoid this food. (All of the cholesterol in the eggis in the yolk.) However, nutrition experts have now determined peopleon a low-fat diet can eat one or two eggs a day without measurablechanges in their blood cholesterol levels. This information issupported by a statistical analysis of 224 dietary studies carried outover the past 25 years that investigated the relationship between dietand blood cholesterol levels in over 8,000 subjects. What investigatorsin this study found was that saturated fat in the diet, not dietarycholesterol, is what influences blood cholesterol levels the most.

Improve Your Cholesterol Profile

Not only have studies shown that eggs do not significantly affectcholesterol levels in most individuals, but the latest researchsuggests that eating whole eggs may actually result in significantimprovement in one's blood lipids (cholesterol) profile—even in personswhose cholesterol levels rise when eating cholesterol-rich foods.

In northern Mexico, an area in which the diet contains a highamount of fat because of its reliance on low-cost meat products andtortillas made with hydrogenated oils, coronary artery disease iscommon. In a study published in the October 2004 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,researchers evaluated the effects of daily consumption of whole eggs onthe ratio of LDL (bad) cholesterol to HDL (good) cholesterol, andphenotype (the way an individual's genetic possibilities are actuallyexpressed) in 54 children (8-12 years old) from this region.A month of eating 2 eggs daily, not only did not worsen the children'sratio of LDL:HDL, which remained the same, but the size of their LDLcholesterol increased—a very beneficial change since larger LDL is muchless atherogenic (likely to promote atherosclerosis) than the smallerLDL subfractions. Among children who originally had the high risk LDLphenotype B, 15% shifted to the low-risk LDL phenotype A after just onemonth of eating whole eggs.

Protection against Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Cataracts

Lutein, a carotenoid thought to help prevent age-related maculardegeneration and cataracts, may be found in even higher amounts in eggsthan in green vegetables such as spinach, which have been consideredits major dietary sources, as well as in supplements. Researchpresented at the annual American Dietetic Association Conference in SanAntonio, Texas, October 26, 2003, by Elizabeth Johnson from the JeanMayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts Universityalso showed that natural lutein esters found in eggs are as or evenmore bioavailable as the forms of the nutrient offered in purifiedlutein products.Johnson's trial tested serum lutein concentration in 10 healthy men,before and after daily consumption of 6mg lutein obtained from fourdifferent sources : eggs from chickens fed marigold petals (which arehigh in lutein), spinach (one of the best known sources of dietarylutein), lutein ester supplements (purified lutein) and luteinsupplements. Differences in serum lutein levels in response to thevarious types of doses were observed the day after the first dose: theserum lutein response to egg was significantly greater than thesupplements but no higher than the response to the spinach. After ninedays of daily lutein dosing, the serum lutein response wassignificantly greater in the egg phase than either of the supplementsor the spinach. The bottom line: this study suggests that eatinglutein-rich foods may be a more effective means of boosting luteinconcentration in the eye than taking supplements.

Poached Eggs over Spinach and Mushrooms.

infection, according to Japanese research published in the September 2004 issue of the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry.Egg white's ability to protect against E. coliO157:H7 is especially welcome since drug resistant strains of this (andother) bacteria have arisen from the overuse of antibiotics. Theprotein, hen egg ovomucin, was tested against a variety of food bornepathogens and was found to bind exclusively to E. coli O157:H7, so the food industry will also be able to use it to detect the dangerous bacterium in foods.

A study of 378 women with breast cancer and 1,070 age-matched controls, which was published in the January 2005 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, found two dietary choices that were strongly protective against the disease:

Women consuming the most fruit and vegetables—3.8 or moreservings each day—had a 52% lower risk of breast cancer compared towomen eating 2.3 or fewer servings of fruits and vegetables daily.Eating eggs—at least 6 eggs a week—was also highly protective, loweringrisk of breast cancer by 44% compared to women consuming only 2 eggs aweek.