It is one of the basic foods people expect to find in the kitchen along with milk and bread. Few recipes do not include it, and what on earth would all those Fort Worth kids go hunting for at Easter if eggs (albeit plastic candy filled ones) were not such a part of the culinary landscape? You can pick up a dozen eggs at just about any Fort Worth area food store.
But if you follow egg consumption recommendation trends too closely, you could end up with whiplash. First they were good for you, then they were not, then they had too much of this, not enough of that, eat only two per week, eat one a day...aghhh! Here is what the Journal of American College of Nutrition has to say:
For much of the past 40 years, the public has been warned away from eggs because of a concern over coronary heart disease risk. This concern is based on three observations: 1. eggs are a rich source of dietary cholesterol; 2. when fed experimentally, dietary cholesterol increases serum cholesterol and; 3. high serum cholesterol predicts the onset of coronary heart disease. However, data from free-living populations show that egg consumption is not associated with higher cholesterol levels. Furthermore, as a whole, the epidemiologic literature does not support the idea that egg consumption is a risk factor for coronary disease. Within the nutritional community there is a growing appreciation that health derives from an overall pattern of diet rather than from the avoidance of particular foods, and there has been a shift in the tone in recent dietary recommendations away from "avoidance" messages to ones that promote healthy eating patterns. The most recent American Heart Association guidelines no longer include a recommendation to limit egg consumption, but recommend the adoption of eating practices associated with good health. Based on the epidemiologic evidence, there is no reason to think that such a healthy eating pattern could not include eggs.
In addition to the back and forth regarding how many eggs a person should eat, there has been a lot of concern over salmonella contamination. Basically, if you thoroughly cook foods which contain eggs and follow basic sanitary practices, your kitchen should be a pretty safe place. Here are a couple of egg-based bits upon which you may nibble...
- The egg color is not an indication of the nutritional value of its contents. It better describes the genetic family line of the mother and, sometimes, what the hen ate while developing the egg.
- Although chicken eggs are what you usually find at the grocery store, specialty and ethnic stores can also offer duck and quail eggs. Check Fort Worth area Whole Foods and Central Market stores for the less than usual egg options.
Besides being the usual morning breakfast food, eggs add nutritional and textural qualities to foods as an ingredient while providing a low calorie source of protein and choline. Health-wise, they help with brain function, reducing inflammation, are believed to aid in weight loss and cardiovascular support, cholesterol, blood clotting, and eyesight (World's Healthiest Foods)
When egg shopping, look for the following: organic, cage free, and vegetarian fed. This indicates that there is a better chance that the eggs were laid by chickens fed a poultry-friendly diet and that the hens had a chance to run around being a chicken.
Do you have a favorite way to enjoy eggs?
Recipes from The Incredible Edible Egg
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