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Eggs Facts

Eggs have had a rotten press over the last few decades, but how
much of it has been fair? Helen Sandstrom unscrambles the evidence and
finds that it’s flipped in eggs’ favour

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Satiety Losing weight could be as simple as having two eggs for brekkie. Researchers at Louisiana State University found overweight women who ate two eggs for breakfast at least five days a week lost 65% more weight than women who ate a bagel equal in kilojoules for breakfast. The research confirms an earlier 2005 study that concluded when women ate an egg-based breakfast, they reported greater feelings of satiety and consumed fewer kilojoules over 36 hours than when they ate a bagel instead.

Eye health The body is better able to absorb more eye-healthy lutein – important in preventing macular degeneration – from eggs than from other dietary sources, according to a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) study that compared eggs, cooked spinach and supplements. “The absorption from eggs was three times greater than from the other sources,” according to Dr Elizabeth Johnson, a research scientist at the USDA’s Human Nutrition Research Centre on Ageing.

Protein “Eggs have the highest-quality protein of all foods,” says dietitian Sharon Natoli, director of Food & Nutrition Australia. Their “biological value” – a measurement used to determine how efficiently protein is used for growth – is 93.7. The biological values for milk, fish, beef and rice respectively are 84.5, 76, 74.3 and 64.

Cholesterol Although eggs are high in dietary cholesterol, most of their fat is the healthy unsaturated type, including omega-3. This is one reason why research shows little relationship between egg intake and heart disease. “Dietary saturated fat has the greatest effect on blood cholesterol levels, not the dietary cholesterol found in eggs,” says Wanda Howell, professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Arizona, who has analysed more than 200 studies on cholesterol.

For every 1% increase in kilojoules from saturated fat, there is a 2% increase in “bad” LDL cholesterol in the blood. “Most people are what we call compensators,” says Professor Howell. “They can eat dietary cholesterol and compensate by reducing the amount of cholesterol made in the liver.”

Salmonella “Generally, eggs in Australia are safe,” says Lydia Buchtmann from Food Standards Australia New Zealand. “We don’t have North America and Europe’s problem with Salmonella enteriditis, which forms inside the egg before the shell is formed.” Even so, recent food poisoning outbreaks suggest dishes using raw eggs can be a problem. “Eggs can contain bacteria on the outside of the shell that can transfer to the white and yolk when broken,” warns George Davey of the NSW Food Authority. Cooking eggs kills salmonella and the protein is 40% more absorbable than when eaten raw.

Egg allergy One of the most common food allergies among Australian children is egg allergy, affecting up to one in 50 preschoolers. Most reactions are mild and include hives around the mouth or on other parts of the body. More sensitive children can develop coughing, wheezing or have difficulty breathing. In the most severe cases, collapse and a loss of consciousness can occur. Egg allergies cause less severe reactions than peanut allergies, and two-thirds of children will grow out of their allergy by five years of age.

Freshness Eggs start to deteriorate from the time they’re laid, yet many supermarkets don’t refrigerate their eggs. According to a survey by consumer group Choice, 53% of supermarket eggs fail freshness tests. Even with plenty of time before the “best before” date, more than half had weak and watery whites, a sign that they’re not fresh. In Europe, the “best before” date is four weeks from the date of laying. In Australia, it is five weeks.

False labelling Last year, the ACCC took action against an egg packer passing off free-range eggs as organic free-range eggs. But aside from consumers being duped into paying more for certain egg types, some studies suggest varying nutrient levels. A Penn State University study in the US found pastured birds produced about two-and-a-half times more omega-3 in their eggs than chickens raised in commercial cages on a typical grain diet. “We saw about twice as much vitamin E and 62% more vitamin A in the yolks of pasture-fed birds than in the caged birds,” says Heather Karsten, assistant professor of crop production and ecology. “The longer the animals were on pasture, the more vitamin A they produced,” she says.