Eggs: Are They Good or Bad for You?

by Vic Shayne, PhD

What came first, the egg or the barage of negative press about them? The latter. Eggs have long been a source of food for man and beast alike. But over the past few decades eggs have been beaten, whipped, fried and boiled over comments that they may provide a health risk. But before delving into this yellow topic, here’s one item of truth: Factory farmed eggs are bad for you because they contain drug residues, pesticides, hormones and other chemicals. Plus, chickens are treated inhumanely at these factories to such a degree that if you saw your neighbor treating his pet in the same way, you’d call the police without hesitation! It’s worse than brutal, it’s psychopathic. Now for the health of the matter…

Who is down on eggs? It seems to be the same people who are down on other fats despite the fact that fats are essential to human life, health and healing. The truth is that BAD fats are bad for you, but GOOD fats are essential. Eggs fall into the good fat category. Much of the slandering of fat foods is politically motivated.

The Weston A. Price Foundation reports:

Research on the current plague of heart disease and cancer has focused on dietary fats. Modern diet gurus assert that the Standard American Diet has become “richer” during the middle decades of the 20th century. “. . . we have gradually increased our intake of butter, milk, other dairy products and eggs. The proportion of calories from fats has increased from a national figure of 30 per cent in 1910 to over 40 percent [in 1966]. . . ” writes Jeremiah Stamler, M.D., in a little volume called Your Heart Has Nine Lives. Stamler, a prolific writer and longtime member of the American Heart Association, has been promoting the “lipid hypothesis” for more than three decades. He has lived to see the entire American medical establishment fall in behind the theory that cancer and heart disease in America have been caused by the increased consumption of saturated fats and cholesterol from butter, cream, eggs and meat. The solution, he asserts, is to substitute polyunsaturated oils for traditional dairy fats and lard. (Your Heart Has Nine Lives was sponsored by the Corn Products Company, makers of Mazola margarine and corn oil.) (westonaprice.org)

Americans consume far too much of one kind of EFA (omega-6 EFAs found in most polyunsaturated vegetable oils) but not enough of another kind of EFA (omega-3 EFAs found in fish, fish oils, eggs from properly fed chickens, dark green vegetables and herbs, and oils from certain seeds such as flax and chia, nuts such as walnuts and in small amounts in all whole grains.) (Am J Clin Nutr 1991 54:438-63)

Clare M. Hasler, Ph.D,  University of Illinois, stated, “eggs have not traditionally been regarded as a functional food, primarily due to concerns about their adverse effects on serum cholesterol levels.” However, “it is now known that there is little if any connection between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol levels…” she states.

In addition, Dr. Hasler notes that “…it is now known that there is little if any connection between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol levels….eggs are an excellent dietary source of many essential (e.g., protein, choline) and non-essential (e.g., lutein/zeaxanthin) components which may promote optimal health.” (Nutritional Conference: Where Would We Be Without the Egg? A Conference About Nature’s Original Functional Food,”Amelia Island, Florida, February 25-27, 2000)

There are critics who claim that the big cholesterol scare has more to do with selling more cholesterol-lowering drugs (it’s a billion dollar market) than helping people choose the right foods.