Eggs are (nearly) magic

I mentioned before that I eat eggs for breakfast. There are many reasons for that, but in great part it’s because they’re nearly magic. I tried several options for breakfast, but eggs are the best option for me.

First of all, eggs are pretty much pure protein and fat. No carbs. That means that the hit from breakfast in your blood glucose is minimal. Often, my glucose decreases after breakfast.

Nearly everyone I mentioned that fact told me to be careful about cholesterol. That includes my doctor. But before I committed to eggs, I had a look at what research actually said about it. I knew from experience that there is a lot a nonsense based on 50s ideology around. I had found that meta analysis of research had concluded that not only eggs don’t increase cholesterol, but they in fact can displace LDL and replace it with HDL.

So I stuck to eggs for breakfast for the next 3 years. Everything was good, until I noticed that my ferrite level was high. In fact, over time it went over the 300ug/L that is normally expected (though, the amount allowed can vary with age, the acceptable levels increasing after 50 years old). That would show that my liver was storing a lot of iron and that’s not good for it. I couldn’t think what could the be cause: I don’t lick old keys, I don’t eat unreasonable amounts of broccoli or spinach, and I don’t eat meat. Where could it come from?

Then one day, completely randomly, I read about a study that mentioned in passing that egg yoke is extremely rich in iron. I had never thought of that. I quickly searched research papers on the subject, and my findings were inconclusive. A lot of the research was from the 60s and 70s, and couldn’t conclude clearly how much iron was absorbed from egg yoke (for example in anemic rats it didn’t seem to make any difference).

I know that my mother has iron levels issues, but she doesn’t eat much eggs, and it has been traced to a medical condition I don’t think I have. So, having no good data to make a decision on, I decided that egg yoke was the most likely culprit of my increasing iron levels. I decided to conduct a 6 months experiment: I cut my egg consumption at breakfast in half. I didn’t want to completely stop eating eggs, partly because I’d have to find another breakfast, but also I wanted to see a relatively small decline that I could control over time. I didn’t change anything else in my diet or exercise regime.

Result after 6 months: my iron level is back within the normal range. My HDL is nearly constant over 1.5 years, and my LDL has marginally decreased.