DAY 18

Why should we consider rationing our egg intake?

Here is Dr. Cordain's response:


Many thanks for your response to Maelan’s answer to Barbara’s question about eggs in the Paleo Diet. Let me first address my feelings about egg consumption for the general population and then I will respond to your point, which is technically valid.

In all three of my books, I have advocated egg consumption, particularly eggs that are produced with high omega 3 fatty acid contents. Chicken eggs are generally a nutritious food and are a good source of selenium, vitamin A, vitamin D and the B vitamins, some minerals and lutein. Additionally, numerous recent experimental and epidemiological studies  indicate that regular egg consumption (7 per week) does not increase the risk for coronary heart disease (CHD). As I have previously noted, although eggs are one of the most concentrated sources of dietary cholesterol (212 mg per egg), dietary cholesterol has a minimal effect upon blood cholesterol concentrations in most people^{1, 3}. Further, high cholesterol egg diets cause an increase in blood HDL particles (the good particles that remove cholesterol from the body)¹ and reduce the highly atherogenic small dense LDL particles while simultaneously increasing the less atherogenic large, “fluffy” LDL particles^{4, 5}.

So, should everybody include eggs in their diet on a daily basis? Not necessarily, particularly if we examine the evolutionary template. Without question our pre-agricultural ancestors would have collected and consumed eggs from birds’ nests whenever possible. However, in the wild, bird eggs only appear seasonally. Hence, pre-agricultural humans could have never consumed two eggs for breakfast every morning of the year similar to some westernized people, but rather only occasionally for a few brief weeks or months.

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(Egglands Best is the popular Omega 3 brand in most grocery stores)

Challenge of the Day: Purchase O-3 eggs  and test and retest your intolerance this coming week. You'll find your don't have a runny nose (usually a result of eating to much eggs) as often with these types of eggs.