The Sunday News
1 Eggs help to improve performance
EGGS have a high satiety index, meaning they make you feel full for longer. One large egg supplies 6g of high quality protein and a large variety of essential nutrients, with the exception of vitamin C. This is why teaming up a fruit or orange juice with an egg and whole-wheat/low GI bread provides the perfect breakfast to perform well in a challenging environment.
2 Eggs improve nutrient adequacy of the diet
The nutrient density of eggs makes them a valuable contributor to a nutritious diet. A study among egg vs non-egg consumers revealed that the diets of the non-egg consumers were more likely to fall short of vitamins A, E and B12. Eggs contributed 10-20 percent of folate and 20-30 percent of vitamins A, E and B12 among egg consumers. This study demonstrates the important role one food can play in ensuring nutrient adequacy.
3 Eggs can help to promote weight loss
Eggs with toast have a 50 percent higher satiety index than regular breakfast cereals. Several studies have reported that starting the day with an egg breakfast increases satiety in overweight people and may help with weight loss. In one study where a breakfast of bagels, cream cheese and yoghurt were compared to a breakfast of two eggs, toast and jam (same amount of kilojoules), the latter group stayed fuller for longer and reduced their kilojoule intake at lunch by 29 percent.
4 Eggs help to promote brain health
Choline is a nutrient that facilitates brain development in the foetus and newborn as well as memory function even into old age. Eggs are an excellent dietary source of choline, and one egg per day will provide 28 percent of a pregnant woman’s choline requirement. Choline is of extreme importance during pregnancy and lactation when the reserves can be depleted. At the same time, it is the critical period for foetal brain development and lifelong memory enhancement. In experiments with rats, memory function in the aged rat was in part determined by what the mother ate. Mothers, the message is clear — make a lifelong investment and eat your eggs!
5 Eggs help to prevent cataracts and to protect eye sight
A good dietary intake of eggs, spinach and broccoli is associated with a significant decrease in cataracts (up to a 20 percent decrease) and age-related lens and retinal degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the elderly (up to a 40 percent decrease). Eggs are a good source of the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthine, which play an important role in keeping the eyes healthy. It accumulates in the eye where these nutrients protect against some types of harmful, high-energy wavelengths of light. Getting enough lutein and zeaxanthine is therefore very important from childhood onwards throughout the life cycle.
6 Eggs provide the best quality protein
Protein is one of the most important elements of our diet. Our bodies use protein to build new and repair old tissue. Eggs are champions at providing high quality protein. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Nine of these amino acids cannot be manufactured by the body and must be derived from the diet. A complete protein food contains enough of these nine essential amino acids to promote growth and maintain body tissue. Egg, milk and meat (including poultry and fish) proteins are all complete proteins, but egg protein is of the highest quality, with a rating of 100. Compared to eggs, milk is rated at 93 and fish and beef at 75. One egg has approximately the same protein content as 30g cooked meat, fish or poultry. And apart from being the most versatile and best source of protein in our diet, it is also the least expensive.
7 Eggs can help to protect our bones
Eggs are one of the few natural food sources of vitamin D, our sunshine vitamin. Vitamin D is essential for calcium absorption and for maintaining optimum bone health. Eggs therefore play a supporting role in the prevention of osteoporosis together with dairy products, our main source of calcium.
8 Eggs promote healthy hair and nails
The hair and nails reflect many biochemical imbalances and shortages in the body. Eggs can help to promote healthy hair and nails because of their high content of sulphur-containing amino acids and the wide array of vitamins and minerals. Many people report faster growing hair after adding eggs to their diet, especially if they were previously deficient in foods containing zinc, sulphur, vitamin B12 and vitamin A.
9 Good Fats
Hard-boiled eggs provide good fats called monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, or MUFAs and PUFAs. Replacing saturated and trans fats as much as possible with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats stabilizes your blood cholesterol levels and lowers your overall risk of heart disease, explains MayoClinic.com. These heart-healthy fats also regulate insulin in your blood, which keeps your blood sugar within a healthy range — especially beneficial if you have type 2 diabetes. More than two-thirds of the fat content of hard-boiled eggs comes from good MUFAs and PUFAs. — www.authoritynutrition.com
