Putting Humpty together again
By Marika Sboros
Eggs have been vindicated as an excellent food choice. Marika Sboros gets inside the shell of one to find out what's so marvellous about them.
If I were a rich egg, I would sue for defamation of character for all the lies spread about me.
After all, I was once revered as a prime source of protein on the planet, till a smear campaign knocked me off my pedestal.
I have to admit I cracked from the stress, but Humpty Dumpty I'm not. Without any royal or equine assistance, I put myself back together again to fight for my rights.
I deserve redress for damage to my reputation from baseless rumours that I am a killer at heart. They started with a vicious campaign aimed at the cholesterol in my yolk. People said I used it to damage hearts by blocking arteries, causing premature death.
Yet studies in rural South African communities and by Harvard Medical School in the US show that high egg consumption does not increase the risk of heart disease.
Local and international specialists agree and would be expert witnesses in my defence. They'll tell you I'm practically nature's perfect food, the standard against which all other protein foods are measured.
I'm also a "functional food" as I supply basic nutritional needs, and everything needed for healthy growth and development.
I have a complete set of amino acids, the essential building blocks of the body, and all vitamins and minerals, except Vitamin C. I'm one of few foods that carries Vitamin D, the "sunshine vitamin", and a rare food source of vitamins A and K.
I have folic acid that makes me good for pregnant women. I also have choline, a B Vitamin that improves memory function in children and adults.
That's not all. I have zeaxanthin and lutein, carotenoids that protect eyesight and prevent cataracts. I am a good source of polyunsaturated "good" fats such as Omega 3s, known as essential fatty acids (EFAs) that the body and the brain must have to function properly.
If you don't believe me, ask egghead Doctor John Briffa, my first expert witness. He's a UK medical doctor and natural medicine and nutrition specialist, and just happens to be visiting South Africa giving seminars on optimum nutrition for children.
He says I'm excellent for children, the elderly, in fact, for most people. He says cholesterol has been blown out of all proportion as a risk to our health.
I admit my cholesterol content is high, but studies show dietary cholesterol has only a small effect on blood cholesterol. Briffa will tell you cholesterol is vital for health. It's in all our cells. We use it to make cell membranes, hormones and to aid other vital bodily functions.
There's a lot of ignorance about cholesterol - it isn't a fat at all, as many think.
It's a soft, waxy substance the liver produces, and it travels among the lipids (fats) in the bloodstream. Like fats, cholesterol can't dissolve in the blood, so a build-up for any reason clearly isn't good.
The remedy is not to stop eating eggs, but to find what's causing the build-up and clear it.
I do have a small amount of saturated fat, but Briffa points out saturated fat has been in our diet for millions of years.
It is not as bad for us as others want us to believe, and is not the prime cause of rising rates of heart disease and obesity.
Scientists say there are far more important factors, among them smoking, too little exercise, genetics, and "trans fats", the type of fats found in many processed foods.
Briffa says stable blood sugar levels are essential for health and weight control, and I can keep blood sugar levels stable in the presence of quick-releasing carbs like cereals, white bread, rice and pasta.
So what made me rotten in the public's hearts and minds?
First off, Briffa fingers doctors who became obsessed with the idea that high cholesterol causes heart disease after World War 2, when there was a sudden and disturbing increase in heart disease and obesity in Britain, the US and later here.
They wanted a scapegoat and someone came up with the "lipid (fat) hypothesis" - that cholesterol and saturated fats in animal foods such as butter, eggs and red meat were causing the problems.
That reasoning was a touch irrational since these foods were in the diet long before the rising incidence of life-threatening diseases. Yet by the 1980s and 1990s, anti-egg propaganda had boiled over.
Next on my list to sue is the pharmaceutical industry.
Briffa says pharmaceutical companies have a vested interest in doctors and patients believing the cholesterol story because they can sell them more statins - expensive drugs to lower cholesterol.
Statins do work - after a fashion. Studies show they lower cholesterol, but not the risk of dying from heart disease. And they have serious side effects to boot.
Another of my expert witnesses, Professor Tessa van der Merwe, an endocrinologist at the University of the Witwatersrand Medical School and Johannesburg General Hospital, will tell you the companies' response to this research was predictable. They said cholesterol levels needed to be lowered even more - with more of their drugs, of course. She says that's just silly, since the drop in cholesterol from statins was already dramatic.
She calls pharmaceutical companies the "lipid queens" and says they are the ones "driving fears" about cholesterol and heart disease.
Last but not least, I would sue the food industry and its companies that have a vested interest in the lipid hypothesis. It has allowed them to created a lucrative industry out of low-fat, low-cholesterol processed products.
They latched on to dubious studies about benefits of low-protein, high-carbohydrate foods to lower me in the public's estimation even further - and raise their profit margins.
Briffa points out that after 30 years of eating low-fat, high-carb, low-protein foods, people have grown sicker and fatter.
Briffa and Van der Merwe say we need to "get perspective" on the cholesterol debate, and eggs fit perfectly into a healthy, well-balanced daily eating plan. They're not saying you should gorge on me. Like all the good things in life, anything in excess is bad. But an egg a day is proven to do good.
Egg facts
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The egg, of course. The first egg with a hard outer covering that could survive on land was laid about 800 million years ago.
What do a ship and an egg yolk have in common? Both have an anchor. In fact, the egg yolk has two called chalazae. They are the little white strings of twisted albumen attached to the sides of the yolk.
They are not imperfections or beginning embryos but a natural, edible part of the egg. They keep the yolk centred in the thick white.
A hen takes 25 to 26 hours to produce an egg. She can produce up to 300 eggs in her lifetime.
Occasionally, she will produce double-yolked eggs throughout her egg-laying career. It is rare, but not unusual, for a young hen to produce an egg with no yolk at all.
A hen will lay bigger and stronger eggs if you change the lighting in a way to make her think a day is 28 hours long.
The record for laying the most eggs: seven in one day.
A blood spot occasionally found on an egg yolk does not indicate a fertilised egg. Also called a meat spot, it is caused by the rupture of a blood vessel on the yolk surface during formation of the egg or by a similar accident in the wall of the oviduct.
Fresh eggs can be kept refrigerated in their carton for at least four to five weeks beyond the pack date. Quality losses are insignificant if the eggs are refrigerated as soon as possible after purchase from a refrigerated case. Eggs should be stored in their carton because they can absorb refrigerator odours.
A fresh egg sinks in water. A stale one floats on the top.
Can't remember if you boiled that egg or not? Spin it! If it wobbles, it's raw. If it spins easily, it's hard-boiled.
If a hard-boiled egg is difficult to peel, it is too fresh. Eggs stored for a week to 10 days before cooking usually peel more easily. To make peeling easier, cool eggs thoroughly in cold water straight after cooking.
Brown- or white-shelled eggs have the same quality, nutrients, flavour and cooking characteristics. The only difference is the colour of the hen's feathers. Hens with white feathers and ear lobes produce white-shelled eggs. Hens with red-brown feathers and red ear lobes produce brown-shelled eggs.
Some breeds of chickens can lay coloured eggs. The Ameraucana and Araucana can lay eggs coloured in shades of green or blue, depending on breed and ancestry.
Hard-boiled eggs have a discoloured yolk with a greenish tinge from overcooking. The iron in the yolk combines with the sulphur in the white forming the dark iron sulphide ring.
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Putting Humpty Together Again
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