Traditional wisdom says eggs are bad. Myth or Fact !

Eggs are one of nature's near-perfect foods. They contain an easily digestible form of protein, plus about a zillion other valuable compounds and nutrients, and with rare exceptions (we'll get to those in a bit) there isn't a single sound reason to avoid them, despite what you may have heard.

The advice of conventional dietitians and traditional medical folks to avoid eggs was based on the fact that eggs contain two substances that continue to suffer from a terrible reputation: cholesterol and fat. The demonizing of fat is a subject worth a column all its own, so we'll save that for another time. Right now, let's look a little more closely at cholesterol.

As we all know "The average literate Indian doesn't know exactly what cholesterol is but is quite certain that it's dangerous." The consensus seems to be that whatever it is, the less cholesterol the better. In fact, cholesterol is needed by every cell in the body. Without cholesterol, our bodies would disintegrate. About 80 percent of the cholesterol in the body is produced by the body itself, regardless of how much of it you eat or don't eat.

Most of your body's cholesterol is found in the cells, where it does all kinds of good things. Only about 7 percent of the body's store of cholesterol is in the blood, and even then it doesn't do any real damage until it oxidizes and begins to stick to the arterial walls. Nature, however, in her infinite wisdom, created the egg complete with its own built-in antioxidant. It's called lecithin, and it helps prevent the cholesterol in eggs from becoming a problem. Interestingly, lecithin is found in the yolk, which many people mistakenly discard because it contains cholesterol.

The real take-home point however, is this: Dietary cholesterol has virtually no effect on serum cholesterol. Even Dr. Ancel Keys, whose original "Seven Countries" study gave rise to the whole fat/cholesterol/heart disease madness in the first place, has said: "There's no connection whatsoever between cholesterol in food and cholesterol in the blood. None. And we've known that all along." That has been confirmed in study after study after study. Except in rare cases, the amount of cholesterol in the diet will affect your blood levels nary a wit. (The only exception to this are people who are called "cholesterol responders." Their bodies do not automatically decrease their internal production of cholesterol when dietary intake increases, so for this small group dietary cholesterol should be monitored.)

Egg yolks do contain an essential fatty acid called arachadonic acid, which has a mixed reputation. On the one hand, it is essential for your metabolism, and some authorities claim that up to 20 percent of the population is deficient in it. On the other, it is the "parent" molecule for many inflammatory substances, and some people are particularly sensitive to it. But according to nutritional educator Robert Crayhon, even if you're eating 10 whole eggs a day, it's probably not the presence of
arachadonic acid that's causing problems; it's much more likely to be an imbalance between the arachadonic acid and the omega-3 fatty acids that are missing from the diets of most Americans.

The solution? Make sure you're getting enough of those great omega-3's (found in fish and flaxseed oil), and don't worry about the arachadonic acid in the egg yolks.

By the way, in many supermarkets organic eggs, which contain plenty of omega-3's, properly balanced in the correct, beneficial ratio, are now available. As Dr. Fred Pescatore says, "If you buy nothing else for your family that is organic, please make it eggs."

To sum up: Can eggs be included as part of a healthy, fat-losing, low-carbohydrate diet? YES