Do you start your day with an omelet or scrambled eggs? What if you added two eggs to your diet every morning?
It seems like a harmless habit, but a recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has taken the internet by storm: It turns out that eggs can be both a salvation and a hidden threat.
Renowned nutritionist David Perlmutter told Healthline :
"Egg yolk is a ticking time bomb for 30% of people." But how do you know if you're in that 30%?
The story of 45-year-old Mark from Chicago went viral on TikTok. The man ate eggs for breakfast for 90 days straight and then posted his test results.
His HDL ("good") cholesterol levels rose by 20%, but his LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels rose by 15%.
Comments were divided, with some calling it a victory and others calling it a wake-up call.
Cardiologist Anna Mitchell explained the paradox on The Food Medic podcast:
"For people with a genetic predisposition to hypercholesterolemia, even one egg a day is a risk. For everyone else, choline from the yolks improves cognitive function."
But how do eggs affect the brain? A 2022 study in Frontiers in Nutrition confirmed that people who eat two eggs a day have an 18% lower risk of dementia, thanks to lutein.
However, the same experiment revealed an unexpected side effect.
7% of participants developed a rash, which was associated with excess sulfur in the egg white.
Texas farmer Jacob Reynolds told the Wellness Mama blog how he replaced chicken eggs with quail eggs and his skin problems disappeared.
What about the myth that eggs are linked to heart attacks? A large meta-analysis of 575,000 people published in JAMA found that those who ate more than five eggs a week had a 6% higher risk of heart disease.
But the trick is in the details. As Harvard professor Walter Willett noted, “It all depends on whether you eat your eggs with bacon or with avocado.”
Chef-blogger Lisa Brown shared a life hack on her Instagram account: combining eggs with turmeric neutralizes oxidative stress.
Her recipe has racked up 2 million views, but nutritionist Amy Shapiro has criticized the approach:
"Turmeric won't cancel out excess saturated fat."
The debate around eggs continues. Some experts call them the ideal protein, while others call them “natural fast food.”
Chef Anthony Bourdain once joked:
"Eggs are the one thing that unites vegans and keto enthusiasts in their hatred."
But while scientists argue, Reddit users are conducting experiments.
A girl with the nickname EggQueen94 wrote that after a month of the “egg diet” she got rid of the fog in her head, but acquired bad breath.
Gastroenterologist Richard Lee told her: “The sulfur in the yolks changes the intestinal microflora - this is a temporary effect.”
So should you eat eggs every day? The answer depends on your genes, your lifestyle, and even how you cook them.
Men's Health magazine recommends getting tested for apolipoprotein B to assess your risks.
And if you, like TV host Oprah Winfrey, add eggs to your diet for shiny hair, remember: their effect pales in comparison to fried potatoes with bacon.
As the saying goes, “the devil is in the details” – even in such a simple product as an egg.
