Good or bad eggs

Eggs have been demonised by the health-food industry in the past. so are they harmful or healthy?

Whether scrambled with avocado on toast, poached with asparagus or boiled with whole wheat soldiers, it’s hard to resist the lure of a perfectly cooked egg for breakfast.

They’re easy to whip up, a tasty addition to lots of different dishes and - as an added bonus - they look great on Instagram, but there’s still a lot of confusion about whether eggs are harmful or healthy. Here, we ask Rob Hobson, head of nutrition at Healthspan (healthspan.co.uk) to weigh in on the debate.

Why do people think that eggs are bad for our health?

Eggs have got a bad rep in the past; namely, the golden yolks. Fears around chicken eggs date back to the 1970s, during the so-called ‘low-cholesterol’ craze that saw Brits switch out their usual breakfast foods for low-fat diet products.

During this time, egg yolks were considered unhealthy because they were thought to contain large amounts of dietary cholesterol.

However, since around 2000, major world and UK health organisations have changed their advice on eggs. Eggs are, in fact, low in saturated fat and the British Heart Foundation now says that moderate egg consumption up to one a day - does not increase heart disease risk in healthy individuals. In fact, it’s the saturated fat in accompanying breakfast foods like cheese and bacon that we should actually be worried about.

Also, eating naturally highcholesterol foods such as eggs doesn’t mean you will have raised blood cholesterol. Your liver produces cholesterol in large amounts as it is a necessary nutrient for the cells in your body (it’s also involved in producing vitamin D, steroid hormones and bile acids that digest fat). In the presence of dietary cholesterol, the liver simply produces less.

Meanwhile, nutrients found in egg yolk include calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and zinc.

“Egg yolks also contain the antioxidant compounds called lutein and zeaxanthin that have been shown to be beneficial for eye health by reducing the risk of age-related macular degeneration,” he says.”you will also find a source of choline in egg yolks which is important for brain health.”