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Welcome! I have a lot of great information to share with you about eggs. I'm not here in any way to tell you whether you should eat them or not, but I'm here to present the facts on ways that you can get the maximum effective assimilation from eggs, depending upon how you cook them. There are better ways of getting more nutrition from eggs by cooking them certain ways versus others.
There is no doubt that eggs are a superfood, and they can do wonderful things for the body. Just two eggs contain 13 grams of protein, and we know that protein is important for building and maintaining muscle, fighting infections, and growing hair and nails. Eggs are one of the few foods on the planet that contain all nine essential amino acids.
Eggs include iron, which helps carry oxygen to the cells; vitamin A, which maintains healthy skin and eye tissue; vitamin D, which strengthens bones and teeth; vitamin E, an antioxidant that plays a role in maintaining good health and preventing disease; and vitamin B12, which helps keep the body's nerve and blood cells healthy. They also contain selenium, which acts as a major antioxidant, as well as lutein and zeaxanthin, which help maintain good vision and prevent age-related eye diseases. Additionally, eggs provide choline, which plays a strong role in brain development and function.
There are many different ways to cook eggs, but one good thing about heat is that it will kill bacteria that could potentially be harmful to the body. We can soft-boil or hard-boil our eggs and cook them in their shells; the longer we cook them, the harder the yolk will get. We can poach our eggs in slightly cooler water for only two to three minutes. We can fry our eggs in a hot pan with another layer of cooking fat, which may be sunny side up, sunny side down, over easy, or even both sides. We can also bake our eggs in a hot oven, scramble them by beating them in a bowl and pouring them into a hot pan, or make omelets by pouring beaten eggs into a hot pan and cooking them slowly until they are solid. Microwaving our eggs is another option, although there is a lot of controversy about that.
The best nutrition you will get from your eggs is when you cook them on lower heat for less time. If you cook your eggs at high temperatures, the cholesterol in them can become oxidized, producing compounds known as oxysterols. Studies show that these oxysterol compounds, as well as oxidized cholesterol cooked at high heat for long periods, can potentially lead to heart disease or cardiovascular problems. However, it's not the egg itself; it's more about the oxidation that takes place, which sets the body up for more potential problems.
Overall, a healthy person can eat eggs and still maintain low cholesterol. Today, there is no link between excessive dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol. Yes, if you have underlying conditions like heart disease, diabetes, or metabolic syndrome, that may be a different issue. But if your liver is producing normal cholesterol—because it produces 80% of it on its own, while we only take in 20%—then if you're taking in less cholesterol, your liver should make more, and if you're taking in too much cholesterol, your liver should produce less.
Many people out there eat raw eggs, but an interesting study shows that you're only getting 51% of the protein when drinking it raw, while heating it up allows you to assimilate up to 91% of the protein from that egg. Another interesting study shows that if you're eating raw eggs, you're not getting the biotin; by heating them, you assimilate more biotin, which has a major effect on our hair, skin, and nails.
So overall, shorter and lower heat cooking methods cause less cholesterol oxidation and help retain most of the egg's nutrients. For this reason, poached and boiled eggs—either hard-boiled or soft-boiled—are the healthiest options. Another big advantage is that you don't add all that extra saturated fat, which can potentially lead to more oxidation. The healthiest eggs will be your organic and pastured eggs.
I hope you enjoyed this video! Please share it with your friends and family, and most importantly, make it a great day. I'm Dr. Allan Mandel.