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December 12, 2008
Ye Gods and Little Egg Yolks
Dave writes:
Why do you only eat the eggwhites? It seems that you are missing out on most of the nutrients in the eggs.
First, welcome Dave. It's not your fault that you're bringing up an issue that has been hashed and rehashed, fried scrambled and served sunny side up on the CR list and also on blog.
Luckily, MR put the reason why we eat eggwhites (which are packed full of protein) into a convenient email to me which I here reproduce:
All:
After a long period of suspicion, the egg marketing board (and others) have executed a very successful campaign to convince people that dietary cholesterol is basically harmless, since it has little impact on total serum cholesterol.
As I've documented in teh past:
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Dietary Cholesterol and Egg Yolks
Posted by: Michael Rae (IP Logged)
Date: May 10, 2005 11:23AM
http://www.calorierestriction.org/archive/read.php?2,157322,157322#msg-157322
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Re: Egg, Cholesterol and Food Faddism
Posted by: Michael Rae (IP Logged)
Date: June 27, 2005 10:57PM
http://www.calorierestriction.org/archive/read.php?2,158307,158328#msg-158328
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Whole eggs and cholesterol
Posted by: Michael Rae (IP Logged)
Date: January 22, 2007 12:33PM
http://www.calorierestriction.org/archive/read.php?2,174985,174988#msg-174988
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... this is really only true in people who are ALREADY overweight and/or insulin-resistant and hypercholesterolemic; in lean, insulin-sensitive people, dietary cholesterol does indeed increase serum cholesterol, depresses the HDL:TC ratio, and also raises systemic inflammation as indicated by the acute phase proteins serum amyloid A (SAA) and CRP.
Of course, those facts IMPLY, mechanistically, negative health outcomes -- but this kind of "make-the-case" argument is far from conclusive evidence, and should not be a strong basis for making dietaary changes (especially when, as with dietary protein and IGF-1, studies on actual health outcomes and mortality lead to the opposite conclusion).
Recently, several prospective epidemiological studies have found
that higher dietary cholesterol is, indeed, associated with negative health impacts -- some of them rather surprising.
In (1), already posted by Al Pater along with some of the tables, there was an association of relatively high (but, NB, well within the range that the egg marketing board says is healthy) egg consumption with a 20% increase in total mortality: in "a prospective cohort study of 21,327 participants from Physicians' Health Study I ... In an average follow-up of 20 y ... adjusted hazard ratios (95% CI) for mortality were ... 1.23 (1.11, 1.36) for the consumption of ... > or = 7 eggs/wk, respectively (P for trend < 0.0001). This association was stronger among diabetic subjects, in whom the risk of death in a comparison of the highest with the lowest category of egg consumption was twofold ". Note that the average BMI in all quintiles of egg consumption was ~25, right on the border of overweight; one would EXPECT a stronger effect in a leaner cohort (tho' surprisingly, here, the effect seemed stronger in diabetics).
In (2), in the same large, well-designed, well-funded study, "egg consumption of > or = 7 per week was associated with an increased risk of HF [heart failure]. Compared with subjects who reported egg consumption of < 1 per week, hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for HF were 1.28 (1.02 to 1.61) and 1.64 (1.08 to 2.49) for egg consumption of 1 per day and > or = 2 per day, respectively, after adjustment for age, body mass index, smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise, and history of atrial fibrillation, hypertension, valvular heart disease, *and hypercholesterolemia* " -- ie, the effect held even after eliminating any problem specifically mediated by elevated cholesterol. (NB that heart failure is usually caused by hypertension, not hypercholesterolemia).
And in (3), a separate prospective study in a cohort that is somewhat smaller, "2,160 multiethnic women, aged 42-52 years, from six geographic areas ... 4 years later, ... Women in the highest quartile of cholesterol intake had 40% greater odds (odds ratio = 1.4, 95% confidence interval: 1.1, 1.8) of being more limited [ie, having physical functioning limitations, defined by a set of standardized criteria] versus those in the lowest quartile. Women in the highest quartile of fat and saturated fat intakes were 50% and 60% more likely to be more limited, with respective odds ratios of 1.5 and 1.6 (95% confidence intervals: 1.2, 2.0 and 1.2, 2.1) versus those in the lowest quartiles. Lower fruit, vegetable, and fiber intakes were related to reporting greater functional limitations." I have not however seen the full text, and can't comment on what potential confounders were accounted for.
-Michael
1. Djoussé L, Gaziano JM.
Egg consumption in relation to cardiovascular disease and mortality: the
Physicians' Health Study.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Apr;87(4):964-9.
PMID: 18400720
http://www.calorierestriction.org/archive/read.php?2,186516,186516#msg-186516
2. Djoussé L, Gaziano JM.
Abstract
Egg consumption and risk of heart failure in the Physicians' Health Study.
Circulation. 2008 Jan 29;117(4):512-6. Epub 2008 Jan 14.
PMID: 18195171 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
3. Tomey KM, Sowers MR, Crandall C, Johnston J, Jannausch M, Yosef M.
Abstract
Dietary intake related to prevalent functional limitations in midlife women.
Am J Epidemiol. 2008 Apr 15;167(8):935-43. Epub 2008 Feb 3.
PMID: 18250080 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Thank you, MR. Nicely done.
What specific nutrients in egg yolks do you fear I might miss? One of the advantages to doing my nutrition on free, easy nutritional software, in addition to the fact that I won't kill myself by attempting to do CR without adequate nutrition, is that I already know what nutrients I am getting in my diet, so need not speculate as to whether or not I might miss something that one would find in the yolk. For instance, I'm way over 100% on vitamin A in any given day.
The thing about nutrition is that it's much easier to figure out what you need if you just use the software rather than speculating, relying on "common sense," or trying to intuitively eat. If I were to intuitively eat, I'd end up on a diet of Subway Club salads and red wine. Nice enough for a treat, but not adequate for every day nutrition. However, my body tells me, consistently, that it *needs* Subway Club salads and red wine. Occasionally it claims that I need a Bloody Mary (no doubt for the vegetable juice I am so sure) and a Taco Bell bean burrito. Now don't get me wrong, I love my healthy foods that I eat on a daily basis like kale, yogurt, cruciferous veggies, eggwhites, cottage cheese, etc. etc. etc. But I developed my quotidian diet using nutritional software, then experimenting with my likes, tastes, what worked best with my super busy lifestyle, etc. precisely because I discovered that I wasn't getting adequate nutrition before using the software. You can't guess at this stuff. Plug your diet into CRON-O-Meter and you'll see.
In fact, before I plugged my diet into nutritional software, I was eating a hard boiled egg a day and thought I was getting plenty of protein. When I did it on the software, I realized I wasn't getting nearly as much as I need, so I changed my diet accordingly and that's when I discovered eggwhites.
I still love hard boiled eggs and have one occasionally as a treat, but I don't include them in my quotidian diet for the reasons MR addressed above.
But Dave, it's not your fault. Please do keep reading and commenting. I suspect others who are just joining us were wondering as well and are grateful that you've gotten their question answered for them.
The story of how I evolved my quotidian diet, complete with mistakes with tofu, putting vanilla whey powder into broccoli soup (ick!) and turning my kitchen into a scene of out Ghostbusters are all on my old blog at http://www.aprilcr.blogspot.com.
Posted by april at December 12, 2008 9:01 AM
Comments
Thanks for the information. I can see I have a lot to learn. I will check out the sotware and I will definitely keep reading.
Posted by: DAVE at December 12, 2008 12:48 PM
Nice info! What about choline? That's the only excuse I would make for egg yolks. Do you use lecithin? That's a nutrient that is not commonly tracked, but is still important.
Posted by: Little MR at December 12, 2008 6:27 PM
Thanks for a very interesting and informative post. I'm practicing CRON, and I currently eat 1 whole egg/day, since I get basically no cholesterol whatsoever from the rest of my diet (I guess you could call me an "ovo-pescetarian"). Do you think I should continue doing so, or should I keep dietary cholesterol non-existent?
Posted by: Johan at December 13, 2008 1:13 AM
Very informative...and leads me to another follow up question in regards to when you mention wine and Bloody Marys...with CR, what are your wine/alcohol guidelines for a normal weekday and typical weekend...do you have normal CR and "hardcore" CR guidelines? Do you measure in ounces? Do you factor in the tomato juice in Bloody Mary into your daily vitamin requirements, what about wine? Do you have a preference from a nutritional view in regards to white or red?
Any 2009 goals in mind?
Posted by: MT at December 13, 2008 10:29 AM
what is wrong with you people?
I first ask that to that commenter, then to aprilita.
Healthy, nutritious eating together with consuming lower calories leads to a healthy life. Perhaps also to longevity. That's suggested and somewhat proven by CRON researchers. I don't do CRON. But whenever I consume a good/ low calorie diet made up of fresh veggies, good protein in the form of free range chicken or free range cattle or fish and a minimum amount of homemade dark bread/ brown rice/ good quality bulghur wheat pilaf for a long enough period of time, I feel great. That's all. I don't care how long I live. in fact, I'd rather die around my late forties fabulously than live to my 90s all old and crackle-boned...But this is my advice to all the chicks out there: Just live the life as you want to live it and eat good food all the time. There cannot be one meal missed with bad food: All meals have to be good food. By good food I mean healthy, nutritious, tasteful food. And never eat the same thing twice in a row. Change every day. That's the clue to a nice life I think.
Posted by: zeynep at December 16, 2008 5:33 PM