Good for you? Eggsactly!Have you felt guilty for every egg you've consumed in the past ten years? Eggs have suffered the stigma of being one of those bad-for-you foods that lots of people love. The lowly, but beloved egg may be emerging from the list of foods to avoid, and could take its place along with good-for-you foods like tofu, beans and lean meat. One egg provides six grams of very high quality protein as well as vitamins A, B12, D, folate folate /fo·late/ (fo´lat) 1. the anionic form of folic acid. 2. more generally, any of a group of substances containing a form of pteroic acid conjugated with l-glutamic acid and having a variety of substitutions. , thiamin thiamin or vitamin B1 Organic compound, part of the vitamin B complex, necessary in carbohydrate metabolism. It carries out these functions in its active form, as a component of the coenzyme thiamin pyrophosphate. , riboflavin riboflavin: see coenzyme; vitamin. riboflavin or vitamin B2 Yellow, water-soluble organic compound, abundant in whey and egg white. It has a complex structure incorporating three rings. , phosphorus, carotenoids Carotenoids Carotenoids are yellow to deep-red pigments. Mentioned in: Vitamin A Deficiency carotenoids (k , and zinc. And while eggs have been disparaged as bad for cholesterol levels and coronary heart disease coronary heart disease: see coronary artery disease. coronary heart disease or ischemic heart disease Progressive reduction of blood supply to the heart muscle due to narrowing or blocking of a coronary artery (see atherosclerosis). , new research brings the egg out of the health and fitness shadows and into the light. Researchers looked at two prospective studies to determine whether egg eating and heart disease and stroke are actually related. After controlling for smoking, age, and other coronary heart disease risk factors, there was no evidence of a significant link between egg consumption and risk of heart disease or stroke. The authors don't know why this high cholesterol food isn't associated with an increased risk of heart disease. One theory is that the cholesterol is accompanied by unsaturated fat, which may raise levels of the good cholesterol (high-density lipoproteins). These authors suggest that up to an egg a day is not likely to have an impact on heart disease. If you have normal blood pressure and cholesterol, no family history of heart disease, and you exercise, you can enjoy an egg-a-day without a guilty conscience. That's seven eggs a week, 365 eggs a year. If you're an egg-lover, that's eggscellent news. (Journal of the American Medical Association JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association is an international peer-reviewed general medical journal, published 48 times per year by the American Medical Association. JAMA is the most widely circulated medical journal in the world. , 1999. Vol. 281. No. 15, pp. 1387-1394) |
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