Eggs

Mar 21, 20215 min read

Why would the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) demand that the American Egg Board stop using words such as "healthy", "nutritious", or even "safe" to describe eggs? Well, there are multiple risk factors involved when considering egg consumption. Eggs are proven to cause heart disease (#1 killer of people), numerous cancers, diabetes, choline, and more. As we become more and more health-conscious, we need to exclude things out of our life that are toxic and damaging to our well-being. All animal products provide an overwhelming amount of acidity, hormones, cancer-causing properties, inflammation, and plenty of negative effects that can not be ignored. Let's dig deeper into where eggs come from and their harmful effects.

Where do eggs come from?

The egg-laying process can take a toll on a hen's body. Hens in nature lay from 10 to 15 eggs per year on average. Humans have once again genetically engineered another species in the Animal Kingdom for our use to lay on average 250 to 300 eggs per year now. The males do not produce eggs so it is standard practice to separate them and throw them in a large grinder, gas them, and/or leave them to suffocate in garbage bags on their first day of life. Millions of chicks are killed like that every day in America. The surviving animals left are crammed in tight spaces for their short lives with their beaks ground off so they don't peck each other to death. They grow to be oversized and end up crushing their lower body support causing them to lay in waste and be immobile. Once these suffering hens develop the egg fully, it is pushed out through the vent or cloaca (which literally translates to sewer) where poop, pee, and eggs are all excreted. This whole process is very labor-intensive and can drain these animals of their lives. We can see the negative health effects for these birds are obvious, but how do they affect human health?

Negative health effects

Mind-Blowing stat of the day:

The Harvard Nurses’ Health Study is a prospective cohort study that began in 1976 when 121,700 US female registered nurses aged 30–55 years completed a mailed questionnaire about their lifestyle factors, health behaviors, and medical histories. This is a comparative risks analysis study that followed numerous different risk factors and compared the results between them. At the end of the 1986-2004 study period, it was time to follow up with the remaining 50,112 participants. When comparing risks, it was determined that consuming just one egg per day has the same risk of mortality as smoking 5 cigarettes per day!

Check out this video from Dr. Greger analyzing this study more in-depth.

Michael Greger M.D. FACLM March 11th, 2013 Volume 12

Cholesterol and Saturated fat

The build-up of dietary cholesterol clogs arteries and causes atherosclerosis leading to CVD (Cardiovascular Disease, #1 killer). Cholesterol is only found in animal products. Eggs are one of the most cholesterol-dense foods we know of at around 200 mg per egg. High cholesterol intake is associated with the following cancers: stomach, colon, rectum, pancreas, lungs, breast cancer, kidney, bladder, and non-Hodgkins lymphoma. High intake of egg consumption has also been directly linked to joint pain, inflammation, breast cancer, and infertility in women. Animals (including us humans) can make their own cholesterol and have no need to consume dietary cholesterol at all. "All tissues are capable of synthesizing enough cholesterol to meet their metabolic and structural needs. Consequently, there is no evidence for a biological requirement for dietary cholesterol." (Dietary DRI Reference Intakes. The Essential Guide to Nutrient Requirements. Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC.). It is important that we exclude cholesterol from our diets as there is no real thing as "normal cholesterol levels" on the standard American diet. In one study, 75% of heart attack patients fell within the recommended levels of LDL cholesterol which shows the current guidelines aren't low enough to be beneficial. For plaque progression to cease, it seems that the serum total cholesterol needs to be lowered to the 150mg/dl area which is impossible when consuming animal products. While cholesterol is towards the top of the list of nutrients that increase the risk of death, FIBER (a resistant starch) is the nutrient that decreased the risk of mortality more than any other. In the Nurse's Health Study, the fiber found in one cup of oats or 2 handfuls of nuts had the same impact on health as 4 hours of weekly jogging. That's amazing! Unfortunately, most people eat a diet that is fiber deficient which can bring on various issues.

Eggs also contain saturated fat which has an increasing effect on blood cholesterol. Consuming large amounts of fat can contribute to insulin resistance and affect bringing glucose from blood into the cells. A review of 14 studies revealed that eggs can increase diabetes risk by 68%. Those numbers can actually increase for people with underlying conditions such as chronic diseases. In another study women who consumed the most eggs increased their risk of gestational diabetes by 165%!

TMAO

Trimethylamine N-oxide or TMAO is a metabolite that is formed after you eat foods containing the substances carnitine and choline. Choline is a nutrient that is required for normal human liver and muscle functions and important for normal fetal development. Choline is found in eggs, red meat, fish, and poultry. As bacteria in your gut feast on choline, they produce a substance called trimethylamine (TMA). Our liver takes that TMA and converts it into TMAO. The more TMAO in the bloodstream, the more risk of heart disease, and the more severe the cases are. TMAO is known to also increase inflammatory markers, risk of stroke, risk of heart attack, risk of death, and chance of cardiac surgery. TMAO is proven to drastically increase the risk of CVD and numerous cancers such as prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer.

It is important to state that choline and carnitine are also found in plant products. But, when consuming plant-based TMAO like from brussel sprouts, a study showed that choline consumption significantly decreased TMAO levels. Only the TMAO found in animal products has devastating effects on the risk of cancers, heart disease, and death.

Here's another video by Dr. Greger explaining more on the Choline and TMAO from eggs.

Michael Greger M.D. FACLM December 14th, 2016 Volume 33

Conclusion

The American Egg Board has tried its hardest to alter information and misinform the public on the severe health risks of consuming eggs. The USDA banned the Egg Board from promoting eggs as healthy mainly due to their high content of cholesterol, saturated fat, and choline. Eggs can contribute to heart disease, cancers, and even obesity (due to their high calorie count). There are many other negative effects of eggs like salmonella poisoning, heterocyclic amines, arachidonic acid, estrogen, and other animal hormones. If the only reason you consume eggs is for protein, remember, non-toxic protein comes from plants and is in the correct quantities. High animal-protein diets are linked to kidney stones, kidney disease, cancer and higher overall risk of mortality. Whole plant foods are full of fiber, vitamins, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and minerals. In a world where whole plant foods are accessible, healthy, and better for our environment, we have no reason to exploit animals.