Is It Healthy to Eat Eggs Every Day? How Many?

Eggs are popular at all ages and add high-quality proteins to any meal. Eating an egg a day will provide you with several vital nutrients without loading you with calories.

Eggs are popular at all ages and add high-quality proteins to any meal. They're inexpensive, easy to cook, and delicious. But are eggs healthy? They've been under a cloud for the last few years because they contain cholesterol. 

Cholesterol causes heart disease, it was thought, and so people were advised to avoid eggs. We now know that dietary cholesterol has only a weak relation to blood cholesterol levels and heart diseases. 

Eggs are a versatile food you can have as a complete meal or part of one. You can have them alone, in desserts, or in a savory dish. In any form, eggs retain most of their nutritional value.

Eggs provide great nutrition for children and adults. A 100-gram portion of eggs provides:

• Energy: 155 calories
• Protein: 12.6 grams
• Fats: 10.6 grams
• Saturated fatty acids: 3.27 grams
• Cholesterol: 373 milligrams
• Carbohydrates: 1.12 grams
• Dietary fiber: None
• Minerals: Calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, zinc, copper, manganese, and selenium

Vitamins: Thiamine (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), niacin (vitamin B3), pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), pyridoxine (vitamin B6), folate (vitamin B9), choline, betaine, cobalamin (vitamin B12), vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin D, and vitamin K

Eggs vary in size and color, but an average egg is about 50 grams. You can expect your egg to give you 6 grams of high-quality protein and 78 calories. The color of your egg does not affect its nutritional value. How you cook it does matter. A boiled egg has the nutrition it started with, but a fried egg has 50% more fat and more calories, depending on your frying medium. Using vegetable oils is better than butter. 

Egg white

Eggs are naturally divided into two parts — egg white (also known as albumen) and the yellow part (called the yolk). Egg white is about 60% of an egg by weight and is 90% water and 10% protein. Two-thirds of an egg's protein (about 4 grams) is in the white. It has tiny amounts of some vitamins and minerals and no fats.

Egg yolk

The yolk contains a third of an egg's protein and most of the fats, cholesterol, vitamins, and minerals. Though an egg has a lot of fats, only about a quarter is saturated fats. Saturated fats raise your blood cholesterol levels. Most of the fats in egg yolk are unsaturated fats. These fats are not harmful to the heart.

People often eat eggs when trying to build muscle. Though most of the protein is in the white, egg yolk has many nutrients necessary for muscle enhancement — phospholipids, phosphatidic acid, choline, vitamins, minerals, palmitic acid, and microRNAs. About 30% of the fats in eggs are phospholipids that contribute to muscle protein building. Whole eggs are more effective at increasing muscle protein synthesis.

Eggs have a lot of protein that is easy to digest. If you have a moderately active lifestyle, you need 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight every day. Eggs are an inexpensive, low-calorie, tasty way to get a significant proportion of your protein requirement.

Egg proteins are complete proteins — they contain all nine essential amino acids your body needs. This allows your body to make muscle proteins, enzymes, antibodies, and every other protein needed.

Eggs are a good food when using resistance exercises to build muscle. The yolk provides energy, and the white provides protein. Enhanced energy contributes to a positive nitrogen balance and increased muscle protein synthesis.

Eggs also contain some vital vitamins. Some of them, such as riboflavin, folate, and cobalamin, are not plentiful in other common foods.

Many years ago, the American Heart Association advised that people should limit cholesterol consumption to 300 milligrams a day. Current guidelines don't advise such numbers but advise against saturated fats. Cholesterol is found only in foods of animal origin and is almost always accompanied by saturated fats. Eggs and shellfish are the exceptions — they have cholesterol but little saturated fat.

Large studies have shown that eating one egg per day won't raise your blood cholesterol or increase your risk of heart disease. People building muscle eat several eggs a day, which has only small effects on blood levels of cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein. Eating whole eggs is not associated with increased stroke risk, mortality, or heart disease. 

Cholesterol is an essential molecule for your body. It helps the body make vitamin D. Every cell in the body needs cholesterol to form cell membranes. The adrenal glands need it to make hormones, and the sex hormones are also formed from cholesterol. The liver needs cholesterol to make bile acids needed for digestion.

Eggs are healthy and safe. Eating an egg a day will provide you with several vital nutrients without loading you with calories. A study found that eating 12 eggs a week doesn't increase heart disease risk factors in people with diabetes. However, these people were in a study and eating a controlled, healthy diet. 

The National Heart Foundation of New Zealand recommends that people at risk of heart disease can eat six eggs a week. People not at risk shouldn't count their eggs but concentrate on heart-healthy eating patterns with more vegetables, less processed food, and reduced saturated fats. The accompaniments may be more important than eggs. White bread, bacon, sausage, butter, and salt are all bad for your heart.

If you are following a vegetarian diet and eggs are your only source of cholesterol, you can have more of them. The effects of dietary choices on overall health are closely tied to physical activity levels, too. You can also lower cholesterol consumption by combining an egg with one egg white. Avoiding the yolks altogether will deprive you of several vitamins and other nutrients.

If you have high blood cholesterol, you should limit your dietary intake of this lipid to 300 milligrams a day. Eating three or four eggs a week should still be fine, but it's best to get a dietician to make a meal plan for you. 

The nutritional value of egg white and egg yolk are different, and separating them in your kitchen is easy. But both parts of an egg have valuable nutrients. Eating whole eggs is best for your nutrition and health. Boiled or poached eggs are the healthiest way to eat your eggs. Scrambled eggs made without butter or cream are also a good option.