Science comes to eggs’ defense — again

It’s hard to believe so much controversy could swirl around the humble egg.

Ever since the anti-fat hysteria of the 1980s, doctors have been advising people to avoid eggs. “They’re high in cholesterol,” they say, “so they’re bad for your heart.”

Of course, anyone with even basic understanding of cholesterol knows that dietary cholesterol has almost no effect on cholesterol levels. The liver produces most of the cholesterol in the body, and diet has very little to do with it.

Those with an even more advanced understanding of cholesterol will also tell you that cholesterol levels are insignificant when it comes to heart health. Just read these five facts that will upend everything you think you know about cholesterol, and you’ll understand why.

With all of these facts at our disposal, experts in the know (myself included), have never scared our patients away from eggs. In fact, we encourage them as part of a healthy diet. Even if we catch a ton of flak for it.

But since this debate continues to rage on, despite all the scientific evidence that should have settled it decades ago, I’m going to have to keep writing about it.

It’s hard to believe research is still even being conducted to determine whether eggs are harmful. But that just goes to show you how confused the mainstream medical community is about nutrition.

Instead of just admitting they’ve been dishing out bad advice, apologizing, and moving on, they keep chasing research they hope will prove their theories. And time after time, they’re disappointed. And a new study I just came across is no exception.

This new research has once again reopened the debate about whether eggs are beneficial or harmful in terms of stroke or coronary heart disease (CHD) risk.

The study, published in the Journal of American Nutrition, didn’t just find that the advice to avoid eggs wrong. Get this…

After looking at the results from seven studies, the authors found that eating an egg a day is linked to a 12 percent reduced risk of stroke. That’s right, eggs reduced stroke risk. In other words, they do the exact opposite of what we’ve been told for decades.

And here’s another doozy that will make the anti-fat folks’ heads spin: NO significant associations were found between egg consumption and CHD risk.

The authors of the study sounded dumbfounded as to how and why this could be so.

In all fairness, they do note that eggs contain antioxidants, which have been shown to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation. But in this case, it’s not the antioxidants that are to thank for the cardiovascular disease benefits.

Instead, it’s the very thing the medical establishment is so afraid of: fat.

Let me lay it out in plain language: Certain fats are, by nature, anti-inflammatory. And eggs — especially organic eggs from pasture-raised chickens who eat bugs and worms the way chickens are meant to — have the perfect balance of omega-3 fatty acids. Meaning they are one of Mother Nature’s most perfect, anti-inflammatory foods.

That is why eggs are good for your heart. But good luck finding a doctor who will admit it.

Most mainstream doctors are like J. David Spence, MD, director of the Stroke Prevention and Atherosclerosis Research Center at Western University, London, Ontario, Canada. Even after being presented with this compelling evidence, he still dug in his heels. Here’s what he had to say about it: “Eating egg yolks is not okay.”

Of course, he has nothing to substantiate his belief. Yet that’s the message he’s putting out to the people who look to him for well-informed heart health advice.

I don’t know about you, but I know which side I’m on. And now, if you’ll excuse me…my eggs are ready, and I am starving.

Source:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07315724.2016.1152928?journalCode=uacn20