Healthy Food Chart

Do you like eggs but are afraid to eat the yolks?  For years, egg yolks have been banned from, or at least very limited in, the diets of folks who worry about developing heart disease.  But for many more of us, it's the fat, and hence calorie, content of the yolks that has so many of us eating egg white omelets and the like.  As a result, egg yolks may be the poster child for nutrition advice gone awry.

Egg yolks are actually good for us!

Besides offering up a host of nutrients such as calcium, zinc, selenium, folic acid, vitamin B12, vitamin A and the essential fatty acid DHA, egg yolks are a primary source of choline.  That's what I want to focus on here.  Choline is an essential nutrient that many of us just don't  get enough of.  To make matters worse, many of us may have a genetic variation that increases our risk for developing choline-deficiency signs when we don't get enough of the nutrient. 

Why we need choline

Relatively new to the list of recognized essential nutrients (it was only officially recognized in 1998), choline plays a variety of critical roles in the body.  For example, it's necessary to make neurotransmitters, those all-important brain chemicals.  Choline is part of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which may play a role in memory.  Indeed, studies suggest high intakes of choline may promote optimal functioning of the memory center of the brain.

Choline also helps metabolize homocysteine, which seems contradictory to common advice to limit egg yolks because high levels of homocysteine are linked with heart disease.  High levels of homocysteine have also been associated with cancer, cognitive decline and bone fractures.

Finally, high intakes of choline may also decrease risk for breast cancer and may be critical during pregnancy to help prevent neural tube defects. 

Clearly, choline is a valuable nutrient but we're not getting enough of it.  A recent analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 2003-2004), which is an ongoing governmental survey of what Americans eat, showed that most of us get well below the recommended intake of choline.

Getting more choline in our diets

Liver, eggs and wheat germ are among the most concentrated food sources of choline.  My bet is that many of us aren't going to be cooking up liver any time soon.  But eggs?  Go for it!

The American Heart Association still recommends people with heart disease eat no more than two whole eggs a week but recognizes that whole eggs can fit in a daily healthy eating plan if other high-cholesterol choices throughout the day are moderated.  It's also important to note that the real dietary devil for raising blood cholesterol levels is saturated fat, not cholesterol.  Egg are quite low in saturated fat.

I don't necessarily recommend eating eggs every day as variety is one of the key principles of healthy eating.  But I do recommend including the yolk when you choose to eat eggs.

 What's your favorite way to eat eggs?  I love mine with salsa.

Marsha Hudnall, MS, RD, CD is program director for Green Mountain at Fox Run, a residential women's healthy weight loss program in Vermont.