Chicken Eggs: Good or bad?

Image credit: planetminecraf.com

Chicken Eggs are powerhouses of nutrition, packed with protein and a range of 18 vitamins and minerals. They're also hugely versatile. Almost all eggs are edible but the most commonly consumed are Chicken eggs. Bantam, quail, duck and goose eggs are also readily available and vary in size and taste. Eating one chicken egg a day isn’t so bad for you but if you must (especially for healthy people), then reduce taking the yolk which contains all the cholesterol. Eating egg yolk increases the amount of LDL in your blood. HDL is the so called good cholesterol and LDL is the bad cholesterol. LDL and HDL are lipoproteins that are produced by your liver to transport fats. LDL contains more cholesterol than HDL.

Chicken eggs are high in cholesterol, and a diet high in cholesterol can contribute to high blood cholesterol levels. However, how much the cholesterol in your diet can increase your blood cholesterol varies from person to person. Although eating too many eggs can increase your cholesterol, eating four egg yolks or fewer on a weekly basis hasn't been found to increase your risk of heart disease. When deciding whether to include eggs in your diet, consider the recommended daily limits on cholesterol in your food: 

1. If you are healthy, it's recommended that you limit your dietary cholesterol to less than 300 milligrams (mg) a day.

2. If you have cardiovascular disease, diabetes or a high low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or "bad") blood cholesterol level, you should limit your dietary cholesterol to less than 200 mg a day.

3. One large egg has about 186 mg of cholesterol — all of which is found in the yolk. Therefore, if you eat an egg on a given day, it's important to limit other sources of cholesterol for the rest of that day. Consider substituting servings of vegetables for servings of meat, or avoid high-fat dairy products for that day. 

4. If you like eggs but don't want the extra cholesterol, use only the egg whites. Egg whites contain no cholesterol. You may also use cholesterol-free egg substitutes, which are made with egg whites.

To maintain freshness it is better to store eggs in the fridge as they will last longer. Whole eggs will last for around 3 weeks after laying if kept in the fridge in their box or in a separate covered compartment. You can store whites for up to 3 weeks, put them in a container and covered well. Yolks will last up to 3 days; these should also be covered well. Both whites and yolks can be frozen for up to 3 months. A little known fact about eggs is that they can absorb odors from your refrigerator if stored in an open container, although this shouldn't be a major problem unless you're storing eggs alongside opened containers of onions and garlic or other such strong smelly foods. Very funny that most eggs we consume here in Nigeria, we are not sure of when they were laid. It is best that you consume eggs in between the 28 days in which they were laid before they expire.