Eggs

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christinafoulkes
christinafoulkes Posts: 25 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I’m concerned about eating too many eggs. How many eggs are too many inone week? I’ve been swapping out some of the whole eggs for liquid egg whites.
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  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
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    I have one boiled egg for Breakfast, or one fried egg for Supper. Some days I have no eggs, but I've certainly never thought of having multiple eggs per day in lathe quantities.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,521 Member
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    You never want to over-emphasize a single food source, so I'd fall short of the "all egg" diet. But, eating eggs daily is probably very healthy for most people.
  • festerw
    festerw Posts: 233 Member
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    I typically eat a couple dozen a week, been doing it for a couple years with no issues.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    What are your specific concerns?

    I regularly ate about 2 eggs a day (about a dozen a week, as there'd always be one day that was different), and never had any issues. My cholesterol has always been good and only got better with weight loss. I watch sat fat some (not the most popular thing here), but fitting in a couple of eggs wasn't an issue (maybe 3 g in 2 eggs).

    The egg whites can be good if you want more volume for fewer calories (and more protein instead of fat), but I can't bring myself to use them much -- I like really good whole eggs (I have a farm source) and can't bring myself to waste any of them, and there are nutrients in the yolks too.
  • CrazyCarbContessa
    CrazyCarbContessa Posts: 21 Member
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    Take everything you've ever heard about eggs and throw it in the circular file also known as the garbage. You can safely eat 2 eggs a day (I have been doing it for years.)There are actually more positive benefits to eating eggs than negative effects. What we once thought was bad cholesterol is actually good cholesterol. Eggs are so rich in Protein, Lutein and healthy Omega's....Great for eye, heart, circulatory and brain health. EAT your
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    xhunter561 wrote: »
    christinafoulkes wrote: »
    I’m concerned about eating too many eggs. How many eggs are too many inone week? I’ve been swapping out some of the whole eggs for liquid egg whites.

    pasture raised eggs are fine. However the cheap eggs you get at the store that have been raised on GMO foods have a higher Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio that make those potentially dangerous. I will eat pasture raised eggs (2-4) every couple of days or once or so a week mixed with grass feed butter for the cholesterol. But I don't suggest eating the cheap factory farmed eggs if that is what you were thinking about and if you do very few or try and eat hemp seeds or something with more omega 3.

    No, the only eggs that have DHA/EPA in any significant amounts are eggs from chickens fed fish oil enhanced feed (which would not be in a pastured chicken's diet). I am a fan of pastured/farm-raised by a farm (or person) you know eggs too, but because of concerns for the chicken's welfare, not because the eggs are going to differ in healthiness.

    https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/omega-3-fatty-acids-does-your-diet-deliver
  • ZoneFive
    ZoneFive Posts: 570 Member
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    xhunter561 wrote: »
    christinafoulkes wrote: »
    I’m concerned about eating too many eggs. How many eggs are too many inone week? I’ve been swapping out some of the whole eggs for liquid egg whites.

    pasture raised eggs are fine. However the cheap eggs you get at the store that have been raised on GMO foods have a higher Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio that make those potentially dangerous. I will eat pasture raised eggs (2-4) every couple of days or once or so a week mixed with grass feed butter for the cholesterol. But I don't suggest eating the cheap factory farmed eggs if that is what you were thinking about and if you do very few or try and eat hemp seeds or something with more omega 3.

    Some science support for this claim, please?
  • MelissaPhippsFeagins
    MelissaPhippsFeagins Posts: 8,063 Member
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    If you aren't allergic to them, I would think you'd be sick of the taste before you're sick from eating them. I know kids on my son's swim team who eat up to a dozen a day during season. Swimming burns through calories at an unbelievable rate.
  • rustypep
    rustypep Posts: 31 Member
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    It's fine based on what we know today but hard to beat the protein you get for the small calorie penalty with egg whites so I still use a mix of one egg plus egg whites and toss in a little shredded cheese. Use a little olive oil to cook and gain some healthy fat. It is hard to hit every metric while eating at a deficit. Good luck!
  • xhunter561
    xhunter561 Posts: 77 Member
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    ZoneFive wrote: »
    xhunter561 wrote: »
    christinafoulkes wrote: »
    I’m concerned about eating too many eggs. How many eggs are too many inone week? I’ve been swapping out some of the whole eggs for liquid egg whites.

    pasture raised eggs are fine. However the cheap eggs you get at the store that have been raised on GMO foods have a higher Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio that make those potentially dangerous. I will eat pasture raised eggs (2-4) every couple of days or once or so a week mixed with grass feed butter for the cholesterol. But I don't suggest eating the cheap factory farmed eggs if that is what you were thinking about and if you do very few or try and eat hemp seeds or something with more omega 3.

    Some science support for this claim, please?

    look a lemurcats post i get mine mixed up with something else in that one.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,981 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    xhunter561 wrote: »
    christinafoulkes wrote: »
    I’m concerned about eating too many eggs. How many eggs are too many inone week? I’ve been swapping out some of the whole eggs for liquid egg whites.

    pasture raised eggs are fine. However the cheap eggs you get at the store that have been raised on GMO foods have a higher Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio that make those potentially dangerous. I will eat pasture raised eggs (2-4) every couple of days or once or so a week mixed with grass feed butter for the cholesterol. But I don't suggest eating the cheap factory farmed eggs if that is what you were thinking about and if you do very few or try and eat hemp seeds or something with more omega 3.

    No, the only eggs that have DHA/EPA in any significant amounts are eggs from chickens fed fish oil enhanced feed (which would not be in a pastured chicken's diet). I am a fan of pastured/farm-raised by a farm (or person) you know eggs too, but because of concerns for the chicken's welfare, not because the eggs are going to differ in healthiness.

    https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/omega-3-fatty-acids-does-your-diet-deliver

    It's behind a pay wall.

    Here are two studies that aren't behind pay walls, that found higher levels of omega 3 fatty acids in eggs from pastured chicken than in eggs from caged chickens.

    Anderson KE (2011). "Comparison of fatty acid, cholesterol, and vitamin A and E composition in eggs from hens housed in conventional cage and range production facilities". Poultry Science. 90: 1600–1608. doi:10.3382/ps.2010-01289. PMID 21673178.

    Karsten HD; et al. (2010). "Vitamins A, E and fatty acid composition of the eggs of caged hens and pastured hens". Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. 25: 45–54. doi:10.1017/S1742170509990214.


    Not sure why you narrowed the focus from omega 3s to just DHA and EPA, given that the post you were responding to talked about omega 3s generally.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited December 2017
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    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    No, the only eggs that have DHA/EPA in any significant amounts are eggs from chickens fed fish oil enhanced feed (which would not be in a pastured chicken's diet). I am a fan of pastured/farm-raised by a farm (or person) you know eggs too, but because of concerns for the chicken's welfare, not because the eggs are going to differ in healthiness.

    https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/omega-3-fatty-acids-does-your-diet-deliver

    It's behind a pay wall.{/quote]

    Ah, sorry, didn't realize.

    Here are two studies that aren't behind pay walls, that found higher levels of omega 3 fatty acids in eggs from pastured chicken than in eggs from caged chickens.

    Links didn't work for me, but here's something that says the same.

    http://news.psu.edu/story/166143/2010/07/20/research-shows-eggs-pastured-chickens-may-be-more-nutritious

    Edit: ah, never mind, the second one is working for me. I'll check it out.

    Anyway, that's interesting. The piece I posted said that the omega 3 in eggs depends on the feed of the chickens and the eggs labeled "omega-3" are those from chickens fed special feed (either flax seed for ALA or with fish oil -- neither of which would seem likely to be in the truly pastured chicken's diet in higher amounts in general). However, I certainly believe that truly pastured chickens might well be able to consume more foods that lead to production of omega 3, although it is going to depend on (1) are they really pastured (most cage free labels mean little, certainly re food), and (2) what food do they have access to. (And surely the comparison will depend on the feed of the caged chickens too.)

    Anyway, interested to read the study.

    I also seriously doubt that it has anything to do with GMO as the poster I was responding to said, but again will check your links to see if they address that. Also, surely you are not agreeing that non pastured eggs are "potentially dangerous"? ;-)
    Not sure why you narrowed the focus from omega 3s to just DHA and EPA, given that the post you were responding to talked about omega 3s generally.

    Because it makes an important difference. On average people aren't as likely to be short in ALA (which is in a lot more foods) than EPA/DHA, so focusing just on omega-3 and not specifying is, IMO, insufficient. Edit: I don't expect eggs to be a huge source of omega-3 anyway, and don't buy eggs labeled "omega-3," but I've noticed a lot of pushing of flax seed and the like for the omega-3s (which in that case are ALA) and think it's worth knowing that they aren't all the same.

    Here's a link which I think should work, let me know if it also has a paywall: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/omega-3-fats/
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Okay it's just an abstract, so there might be more, but here is the study linked above:
    In the US farmers often market pastured poultry eggs for a premium price, claiming animal and human health benefits. We examined how moving pastured hens to forage legumes or mixed grasses influenced hen (Gallus gallus L.) egg omega-3 fatty acids and concentrations of vitamins A and E. We also compared the eggs of the pastured hens to those of hens fed a commercial diet in cages. We used a cross-over design to compare pasture species: 75 sister hens were assigned to one of three pasture treatment groups: (1) alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), (2) red and white clover (Trifolium pretense L. and Trifolium repens L.) or (3) mixed cool season grasses. Groups were rotated to all three pasture treatments, each for 2 weeks and supplemented with 70 g commercial hen mash bird−1 day−1. Pasture botanical composition, forage mass, leaf to total ratio and plant fatty acid composition were compared among pasture treatments. Eggs of the pastured hens were compared to eggs of 50 sister hens that were fed only commercial hen mash in cages for the entire 6 weeks. Forage parameters varied somewhat, but did not explain plant linolenic acid variation. Seventeen of the 18 quantified egg fatty acids, and vitamin A concentrations did not (P<0.05) differ among the three pasture treatment groups. Eggs of the hens that foraged grasses had 23% more (P<0.0001) vitamin E than eggs of hens that foraged clover. Compared to eggs of the caged hens, pastured hens' eggs had twice as much vitamin E and long-chain omega-3 fats, 2.5-fold more total omega-3 fatty acids, and less than half the ratio of omega-6:omega-3 fatty acids (P<0.0001). Vitamin A concentration was 38% higher (P<0.05) in the pastured hens' eggs than in the caged hens' eggs, but total vitamin A per egg did not differ. At the end of the experiment, pastured hens weighed 14% less and averaged 15% lower hen-day egg production than caged birds (P<0.0001). Results suggest that grass pastures may enhance vitamin E in eggs of pastured hens more than clover, and pastured hens supplemented with commercial mash will produce eggs with significantly more vitamin E and total omega-3 fatty acids compared to eggs from caged hens fed only commercial hen mash. Pastured hens may have lower body weight and egg production than caged hens, unless they are supplemented adequately to meet their dietary energy and crude protein needs.

    Interesting, and as I said before I definitely prefer pastured myself.

    This is not a study, but perhaps some insight into cause: https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/poultry/raising-omega-3-rich-chicken-and-eggs-zm0z16jjzbre

    "Many studies report an immediate omega-3 boost in eggs and meat when poultry are pastured because, in general, weeds are higher in omega-3s than seeds.... Grazing experts generally agree that green and leafy forages maximize omega-3s, so choose clovers, alfalfa, and purslane, which are also much higher in protein, calcium, and carotene than grasses. Given that the pasture in the APPPA study included orchard grass and crabgrass, in addition to clover, omega-oriented flocksters should be able to balance the ratio even further with high-omega forage blends."

    And here: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/pastured-vs-omega-3-vs-conventional-eggs

    Again, it's about the feed, but not GMO vs. not.

  • jamespatten3576
    jamespatten3576 Posts: 71 Member
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    I'll eat 4-6 at a time. The only adverse effect is it keeps me fat.
  • xhunter561
    xhunter561 Posts: 77 Member
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    azironasun wrote: »
    xhunter561 wrote: »
    christinafoulkes wrote: »
    I’m concerned about eating too many eggs. How many eggs are too many inone week? I’ve been swapping out some of the whole eggs for liquid egg whites.

    pasture raised eggs are fine. However the cheap eggs you get at the store that have been raised on GMO foods have a higher Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio that make those potentially dangerous. I will eat pasture raised eggs (2-4) every couple of days or once or so a week mixed with grass feed butter for the cholesterol. But I don't suggest eating the cheap factory farmed eggs if that is what you were thinking about and if you do very few or try and eat hemp seeds or something with more omega 3.


    becy4vfmpwx4.jpg

    :D well played, well played my friend.

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