Are Eggs Healthy? Nutrition Facts and Myths

Egg protein is high quality

Egg protein — and by that I mean the whole egg, not just dried egg white — has fallen out of favor with a lot of lifters in recent years, and that's arguably a bit unfair.

A whole egg, white and yolk together, contains around 12 g of protein per 100 g, roughly the same amount of fat, and 400–500 mg of cholesterol. That cholesterol figure is exactly why a lot of people avoid eggs, but the concern really isn't warranted. Repeated studies where subjects ate 3–5 eggs a day found blood cholesterol rose by only about 1–2%, and returned to baseline once intake was reduced again. In other words, eating eggs doesn't meaningfully raise blood cholesterol.

Eggs and cholesterol

People also worry about the fat content (as noted, one egg has around 12 g). That worry isn't fully warranted either — only about a third of that fat is saturated ("bad" fat); the other two thirds are unsaturated fats, which actually help lower blood cholesterol. Just remember that fat, of any kind, carries roughly twice the energy of protein or carbohydrate per gram, so it's worth keeping that in mind when you prepare eggs. A fried egg served alongside a greasy sausage isn't exactly a bodybuilding-friendly meal, no matter how healthy the egg itself is.

So eggs aren't dangerous because of cholesterol, and as long as you're reasonably sensible about preparation, not really because of fat either. There is one genuine risk worth mentioning, though: salmonella. Salmonella starts multiplying once the temperature climbs above 7°C (45°F), so always store washed eggs somewhere below that. Salmonella is destroyed at temperatures above 70°C (158°F) — eggs need to be cooked at that temperature for at least three minutes, so watch out for runny fried or scrambled eggs.

All told, the hysteria around eggs is largely unwarranted, and there's no need to fear them — especially given the meaningful amounts of potassium, iron, phosphorus, B vitamins, vitamin A, and vitamin E they provide.