Eggs offer many health benefits

Perhaps you've skipped this breakfast gem for fear of raising your cholesterol. Free yourself from that misconception and indulge in the treasure that a good ol' egg has to offer. Three eggs per day over a 12-week period for obese participants on a carbohydrate restricted diet actually lowered the bad LDL cholesterol and raised the good HDL(1). Another study showed that two eggs per day for six weeks did not affect cholesterol levels or brachial artery endothelial function (2). Yet another study demonstrated that people eating equal to or more than 4 eggs per week had lower cholesterol levels than those eating less than or one egg per week (3).

That aside, eggs are packed with vitamins A, D, E, B2, B6, B9, iron, calcium, phosphorous, potassium and choline (4). Now, when you think choline, think brains and babies. One egg supplies 20% of the daily recommended intake of choline, and it is used as a building block for phospholipids used in all cell membranes and is particularly integral in brain and nerve health. Share with all pregnant women you know that choline from eggs is essential for proper fetal brain development and decreased neural tube defects, and it is a necessary constituent in breast milk. In addition, choline proves important in: memory function, reducing breast cancer risk, and maintaining normal homocysteine levels. It also lowers: plasma C-reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor, and interleukin 6. In fact, in one study, lack of dietary choline resulted in fatty liver, muscle damage and some organ dysfunction (5).

Lutein and zeaxanthin are the carotenoids that imbue the bright sunshine to the yolk, so think eyes and a healthy macula when the rays beam your way. Lutein levels from eggs beat both cooked spinach and lutein supplements by three times in blood serum, and 12 weeks of eating eggs increased subjects' zeaxanthin serum levels and macular pigment (6,7).

Tryptophan and tyrosine are two amino acid egg antioxidants. Tryptophan, with a little help from a carbohydrate meal, crosses the blood brain barrier and is converted to serotonin. Serotonin, a potent mood enhancer (as many anti-depressants induce elevated levels of) can be then converted in the pineal gland to melatonin, which promotes sleepiness(8). Tyrosine is a precursor to epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine and thyroid hormones all modulating your go-go, good feelings, and alertness.

Now before you go out and buy out the market, keep in mind that pasture raised, free-grazing hens produce a superior quality egg and are less prone to salmonella contamination (9). Free hens lay eggs with 3 times more vitamin E, 7 times more beta-carotene, 1/3 less cholesterol, 1/4 less saturated fat, 2/3 more vitamin A, and 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids (10).

A great bargain, eggs are easy on the wallet and packed with goodness. So, be brave, be an egghead, and see what these capsules of dense nutrition can do for you.

1.Mutungi G, Ratliff J, Puglisi M, et al. Dietary cholesterol from eggs increases plasma HDL cholesterol in overweight men consuming a carbohydrate-restricted diet. J Nutr 2008;138:272-6.
2.http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...
3.Song WO, Kerver JM. Nutritional contribution of eggs to American diets. J Am Coll Nutr 2000;19:556S-62S.
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_(food)
5.http://www.cholineinfo.org/pdf/you_...
6.http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2004/...
7.http://jn.nutrition.org/content/136...
8.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trypto...
9. http://www.naturalchoices.co.uk/Sal...
10. http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real...

Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/034557_eggs_health_benefits_cholesterol.html#ixzz1iXvx3CGM

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An egg a day raises risk of diabetes

An egg a day raises risk of diabetes

Photo Credit: zole4

People who eat eggs every day may substantially increase their risk of type 2 diabetes, researchers here said.

Men with the highest level of egg consumption -- at seven or more per week -- were 58% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who did not eat eggs, and women were 77% more likely to become diabetic if they ate at least an egg a day, Luc Djoussé, M.D., D.Sc., of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard, and colleagues reported online in Diabetes Care.

Levels of egg intake above one a week also incrementally increased diabetes risk in both men and women (both P<0.0001 for trend), the researchers said.

Eggs are a major source of dietary cholesterol (about 200 mg per egg) and add about 1.5 g of saturated fat each to the diet, both of which would be expected to increase diabetes risk, they said.

But each egg also contributes about 0.7 g of polyunsaturated fat, which may confer a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, the researchers noted.

The limited, primarily animal model, evidence for an effect of eggs or dietary cholesterol on glucose metabolism has been inconsistent, they added.

To sort out the effects, the researchers analyzed two large prospective trials that included food frequency questionnaires.

Their analysis included 20,703 male physicians without baseline diabetes from the Physicians' Health Study I (1982-2007) and 36,295 similarly diabetes-free female health professionals from the Women's Health Study (1992-2007).

Both studies were originally designed as randomized trials of vitamin supplementation and aspirin for prevention of heart disease.

Over a mean follow-up of 20.0 years in men and 11.7 years in women, 1,921 men and 2,112 women developed type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes was more common in men and women who reported eating more than the average one egg a week.

After adjustment for traditional diabetes risk factors and compared with no egg consumption at the 95% confidence interval, the hazard ratios for type 2 diabetes in men were:

9% for less than one egg a week (hazard ratio 1.09, 0.87 to 1.37)
9% for one egg a week (HR 1.09, 0.88 to 1.34)
18% for two to four eggs a week (HR 1.18, 0.95 to 1.45)
46% for five to six eggs per week (HR 1.46, 1.14 to 1.86)
58% for seven or more eggs each week (HR 1.58, 1.25 to 2.01)

Updating egg consumption with longer follow-up among men strengthened the associations to an almost twofold risk for those in the near daily or higher intake groups (HR 1.77, 95% CI 1.39 to 2.26, and HR 1.99, 95% CI 1.23 to 3.23, respectively).

For women, the multivariate-adjusted risks, also at the 95% confidence interval, compared with no egg intake were:

6% for less than one egg per week (HR 1.06, 0.92 to 1.22)
-3% for one egg a week (HR 0.97, 0.83 to 1.12)
19% for two to four eggs per week (HR 1.19, 1.03 to 1.38)
18% for five to six eggs a week (HR 1.18, 0.88 to 1.58)
77% for seven or more per week (HR 1.77, 1.28 to 2.43)

Data on dietary cholesterol available in the female health professional study showed higher diabetes risk with rising dietary cholesterol with hazard ratios increasing to 1.28 (95% CI 1.10 to 1.50) in the highest quintile (P<0.0001 for trend).

Adjustment for dietary cholesterol attenuated the association between diabetes and egg consumption, whereas saturated fat was not associated with type 2 diabetes and did not alter the diabetes-egg link.

The effects did not appear to be limited to those with high carbohydrate diets, hypercholesterolemia, or high body mass index.

However, the researchers acknowledged that the data did not include repeat fasting glucose, fasting insulin, and other biomarkers of glucose metabolism to "comprehensively examine possible physiologic mechanisms."

The observational studies may also have been limited by self-reporting and residual confounding, they noted.

The generalizablity may have been limited as well by the homogeneous, primarily Caucasian health professional population, which may have different behaviors than the general population, Dr. Djoussé's group said.

"Given the societal burden of type 2 diabetes," they concluded, "confirmation of these findings in other populations and exploration of possible underlying biological mechanisms are warranted."

The study was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

The researchers reported no conflicts of interest.

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Source: http://www.medpagetoday.com/cardiology/diabetes/11883?xid=ob_cc_Diabetes