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The Health Benefits of Eating Eggs
Eggs are one of the most versatile types of food. They can be eaten in various ways and used in a variety of dishes, whether sweet or savory.
When cooked alone, eggs can be pickled, soft-boiled, hard-boiled, fried and scrambled. They can also be eaten uncooked, although this is not advisable for people who are susceptible to salmonella.
When used as a cooking ingredient, egg yolk serves as an emulsifier. The egg whites or albumen can be beaten and whipped to a fluffy consistency, and then used for desserts like mousses and meringues.
We mostly use chicken eggs. Duck, goose, quail, ostrich, gull, guinea fowl, emu and pheasant eggs are also used, but generally for gourmet dishes.
Eggs contain plenty of nutrients including protein, carbohydrates, fat, tryptophan, lysine, Vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, calcium, iron, folate, phosphorous, magnesium, zinc, chlorine, cholesterol and potassium. Eating eggs provides countless health benefits.
Benefits of Eggs
- Eating eggs promotes healthy vision. A study shows that eating an egg daily could prevent macular degeneration. This is because eggs contain carotenoids like lutein and zeaxanthin.
- Eggs are excellent for developing and strengthening muscles, as an average egg contains 6 g of protein and nine essential amino acids needed to maintain a healthy muscular system.
- Moderate consumption of eggs can help prevent stroke, aneurisms or blood clots and heart attacks.
- A single egg yolk contains 300 micrograms of choline, a nutrient that helps in the proper functioning of the brain, the nervous system and the cardiovascular system.
- Eggs are among the few food types to have naturally-occurring Vitamin D, which is necessary for proper bone development.
- Eating eggs could help prevent breast cancer. A study shows that eating at least six eggs a week can lower the risk of breast cancer by 44 percent.
- Contrary to popular belief about the fat content of eggs, an egg has only 5 g of fat, of which, only 1.5 g is saturated fat. Moderate consumption of eggs does not affect the lipid profile of an individual. It could actually improve it, for only saturated fat raises bad cholesterol levels.
Caution
If you have type-II diabetes, or are at risk of type-II diabetes, your doctor might advise you to lower your egg consumption. Some studies suggest that high level of egg consumption is associated with the increased risk of developing type-II diabetes.
Eggs also cause one of the more common food allergies in babies. However, babies generally outgrow egg allergies by the age of one or two.
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