Eggs get a bad rap because of their high cholesterol content.
Do Eggs Help Your Heart?
A recent study published in Nutrients revealed how egg consumption affects one’s heart health, and the findings are encouraging. Read on..
This study showed that eating one to three eggs a week could lower the risk of cardiovascular disease by up to 60%.
Those who ate four to seven eggs a week cut their risk of heart disease by as much as 75%.
The data was related to 3,042 healthy participants in Athens, Greece.
The study was titled “Egg Consumption, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors-The Interaction with Saturated Fatty Acids.”
It was led by a group of nutrition researchers and data scientists in Greece.
According to Michelle Routhenstein, a New York City-based cardiology dietitian who was not involved in the study, there is a role for eggs in a heart-healthy diet if you control your total saturated fat intake.
Eggs are a rich source of vitamin B12, vitamin B2, and selenium, all are cardioprotective.
When a person is deficient in vitamins B2 and B12, it can lead to a spike in homocysteine (an amino acid), increasing the risk of plaque formation in the arteries.
Selenium also works as an antioxidant, helping to prevent heart disease.
In addition, eggs provide high-quality protein that fills you up faster, lowering your chances of eating refined or processed foods that we know aren’t so heart-friendly.
Heart-Healthy Ways To Enjoy Eggs
Eggs are a versatile food that one can enjoy at any meal.
You can prepare a veggie-packed omelet or frittata or have poached or boiled eggs with well-balanced whole-grain bread to meet your daily protein needs.
Another healthy option is to slice hard-boil eggs and put them on top of avocado toast.
You may like to scramble them and roll them into a breakfast burrito with fiber-rich beans and salsa — or chop eggs into your favorite salad for lunch.
Another way is to pour eggs into a muffin tin and bake them into bite-sized muffins or make mini crustless quiches.
An interesting way is to crack and stir right into brothy soup (during the cooking process) to increase your protein intake, creating your own version of egg drop soup.
Experts Caution About Eating Eggs & Heart Health
Whereas eggs can be a heart-healthy addition to any diet when the daily intake of the total amount of saturated fat is within recommended limits.
Remember that the American Heart Association recommends that only 5% to 6% of calories come from saturated fat.
For a 2,000-calorie diet, that would be about 13 grams of saturated fat daily.
One egg contains about 1.6 grams of saturated fat. The study showed the benefit of 1-3 or 4-7 eggs a week for cardiovascular risk reduction, which equates to about 1.6 grams to 11.6 grams of saturated fat a week from the eggs.
About Author: Renu Bakshi, AKA Fitness Buffhq – Best Fitness Guru, is ISSA Certified Elite Trainer. He passed Personal Fitness Trainer Course, Nutrition Health Coach course & Specialist Exercise Therapy course from ISSA, the USA, obtaining + 97% marks. He shares his experience and knowledge about nutrition and effective workouts to get you in the best shape of your life, no matter how old you may be. The author says: “For me, age is just a number!”