While it's true that eggs have gotten a bad
rap due to their high cholesterol content
and that the egg industry (like vested interests
everywhere) has perhaps bent the truth to
suit their purposes, I contend that the egg
is not without merit. And those who slander
it are no less blind to the truth and no
less guilty of bending that truth to justify
their viewpoint than are the egg advocates.
Both sides have an emotional investment in
protecting something near and dear to them:
sales and profits for the egg people and
lifestyle (chiefly vegan) for their opponents.Years ago, nutritionist/author, Adelle Davis, correctly recognized the error of the simplistic logic that eating cholesterol-rich foods causes a build-up of cholesterol in the arteries and, therefore, leads to heart disease. She taught that a 'cousin of the fat family,' lecithin, plays a vital role in controlling cholesterol levels. Lecithin, a natural substance found in the body (and concentrated in the brain), is a fat emulsifier that helps break down cholesterol, preventing its build up in the body.
Lecithin is composed of fat, choline (a B vitamin), inositol (another B vitamin) and essential fatty acids (EFAs). It can't be produced without the help of coenzymes containing vitamin B6 and magnesium. Therefore, a deficiency of magnesium, B6, choline, inositol or EFAs can prevent the synthesis of lecithin and result in a build-up of cholesterol deposits. The B vitamin niacin and the trace mineral chromium also have important roles to play in regulating cholesterol levels.
While eggs are high in cholesterol, they are also high in lecithin and, therefore, provide the body with nutrients needed to break down cholesterol. Davis repeatedly cited studies showing that animals fed cholesterol and saturated fat did not develop high cholesterol levels if given even minimal amounts of lecithin.
The Standard American Diet (SAD) is deficient in lecithin, the nutrients of which it is composed and those needed to utilize it. Such deficiency is caused largely by the refining and hydrogenating of oils, commercial processes (used to extend shelf life) which result in the removal of lecithin. Refined and man-made oils and other foods are much more of a culprit in the epidemic of heart disease than are eggs. I'll take a 'fertile' egg from a healthy, free range chicken over an 'egg beater' any day! Quality counts!!
Chickens raised in factory farms where there is overcrowding, inadequate nutrition, cruelty to the animals (chopping off of their beaks to prevent pecking, etc.) and lack of freedom to roam and interact with other chickens, quite obviously produce eggs of inferior quality -- and that has nothing to do with cholesterol!
Although cholesterol has gotten a bad reputation, it serves many vital functions in the body:
It is essential for cell wall construction, and everything in the body is made of cells.
It is a building block for sex hormones and for adrenal hormones.
It is needed for vitamin D synthesis (Sunlight turns cholesterol into vitamin D).
It is needed for the production of bile acids (which break up fats for absorption).
It has important antioxidant properties, helping to combat disease-causing free radicals.
The mistake we make is in viewing dietary cholesterol as the culprit. It is important to know that cholesterol is not only supplied exogenously through the diet, but it is also produced internally by the liver. The liver, in fact, has the job of controlling cholesterol levels in the blood. Obviously, if liver function is impaired, cholesterol levels go unchecked. On the other hand, if the liver is functioning optimally, much fat (and cholesterol) can be eaten, and cholesterol levels will not rise. Not surprisingly, along with the epidemic of high cholesterol levels, we have a high incidence of liver disease, a leading cause of death in our culture.
The liver has numerous functions in the body. Chief among them are the assimilation and processing of nutrients and the detoxification of metabolic waste products. The liver of modern man is overburdened by the stress of the many toxins taken in through polluted food, water and air. We are, therefore, functioning at greatly reduced liver capacity. The livers of most of us are far too sluggish to process the copious amount of supplements which we consume in a futile effort to fill the 'nutritional gap' created by food grown on mineral-depleted soils. We are not awake to the truth that it is not what we eat nor the supplements we take that determine our nutritional level but rather what the liver processes. And, for most of us, that is very little. The human body is capable of functioning on as little as 20% of total liver capacity but not very well. The sad truth is that very few of us function on more than 35%.
A healthy liver converts dietary cholesterol into bile (which breaks down fat) and temporarily slows its own cholesterol production. The healthy liver is able to adjust its bile production according to need, producing more if dietary intake of cholesterol is low and less if it is high. The major use of cholesterol in the body is bile production -- 80% of our cholesterol is converted to bile. This bile, along with excess cholesterol, is stored in the gall bladder. When fat is present in the intestines, the gall bladder contracts to release its bile and sends it to the intestines to break down the fat there. If the bowel is sluggish (and constipation is another widespread problem), then excessive bile is reabsorbed, rather than passing out of the body. When this bile is recycled, less new bile is formed in the liver and, therefore, cholesterol cannot be turned into bile at the same rate. Consequently, cholesterol deposits build up in the body. Therefore, a sluggish colon, as well as a sluggish liver, creates conditions conducive to cholesterol build-up and coronary artery obstruction.
As the above information indicates, elevated cholesterol levels result not from high intake of dietary cholesterol, but rather from conditions of deficiency and toxicity which impair the body's innate ability to break down cholesterol and regulate its production.
So -- the egg is vindicated! It is a natural, unprocessed food which contains all known vitamins (except C) and important trace minerals. Additionally, in its favor, it may be said that the egg has always been the 'gold standard' as a protein food because of its amino acid profile. It is considered a 'complete' protein because it contains all 8 essential amino acids in generous amounts. The egg is especially rich in the sulfur-containing amino acid, L-cysteine, so essential to healthy skin and hair.
Literature is replete with cases of people eating an enormous number of eggs daily and yet maintaining a normal cholesterol level. On the other hand, there are many individuals who have completely eliminated eggs from their diet and yet have been unsuccessful at lowering cholesterol levels. Those people would do well to cleanse their livers and colons, eliminate processed foods from their diet and focus on whole foods and whole food supplements.
It's time we understood that dietary cholesterol is not the enemy. The enemy is our toxic, processed, devitalized foods, void of essential nutrients and fiber, which create deficiency and compromise the function of our livers and colons, hampering them in their ability to detoxify our bodies. The enemy is the grand-scale pollution of our planet and our bodies which overtaxes the ability of both to compensate for the insults and correct the damage. The enemy is our ignorance and the misinformation we're fed from all sides. Our best defense is knowledge. To process information we need to feed and nourish our brains. Lecithin is a brain food par excellence. And it's found you-know-where: in the yolk of the EGG! Get smart: Eat eggs!