How many eggs per day can you eat healthy?

1. Eggs are very versatile foods. You can cook, bake, poach and use them in omelets and all kinds of other dishes. But they are also very efficient sources of protein. Enough reason to eat an egg regularly, you might say.

1. However, it is not recommended to eat unlimited eggs. The Nutrition Center even recommends a maximum of three eggs per week. Why actually? Are eggs healthy? And how many eggs per day or per week is still a healthy amount? We'll tell you everything about eggs in this blog!

Are eggs healthy?

1. Eggs are protein-rich vitamin and mineral bombs. Still, they are not as popular as you might expect from them. The main reason for this is that eggs are also known as sources of cholesterol - and cholesterol is unhealthy. However?

1. Below we discuss exactly how it looks with eggs and health. We will first mention the benefits and then go into more detail about the cholesterol in eggs!

Benefits of eggs

1. Why would you want to eat several eggs a week? For the following reasons, for example:

1. Eggs are rich in several vitamins. Thanks to the fats in the yolk, eggs are good suppliers of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D and E. An egg also contains various B vitamins, including B12. This is particularly important for vegetarians.

1. Eggs also contain healthy minerals such as selenium, zinc and calcium. Folic acid is also found in relatively large quantities in eggs, a substance that is especially essential for pregnant women. Thus, eggs very easily contribute to a complete diet.

1. Another substance found in eggs is choline. There is a good chance that you have never heard of this nutrient, because it is relatively unknown - yet it plays an important role in our body. Choline helps build cells, keeps your brain functioning properly, and helps prevent inflammation.

1. Finally, eggs contain two important antioxidants, lutein and zeaxanthin. These substances prevent your vision from deteriorating with age. Many people do not consume enough of both choline and these antioxidants, so eggs can be a helping hand!

1. An important point is that most of these substances are contained in the yolk. So it is not advisable to throw away the yolk, as many people do. Yes, the egg yolk contains calories and fats… but also provides the most health benefits.

But… what about cholesterol?

1. There is of course an important disadvantage: cholesterol. You often hear that too many eggs per day increase cholesterol, and thus increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. All those vitamins are of course not so useful if you still have clogged veins.

1. Yet the story surrounding cholesterol is more complicated than is often stated. Since it is very important to the question of how many eggs you can eat per day, we will discuss it in more detail below.

1. Cholesterol is a type of fat found in your blood vessels â € “it used to be called â € blood fatâ € ™. There are two types of cholesterol: High Density Lipids, or HDL, and Low Density Lipids, or LDL.

1. LDL is the "bad" cholesterol that causes all the harm you so often hear about. It sticks to the walls of your blood vessels and therefore increases blood pressure. That creates all kinds of nasty health complications. HDL, on the other hand, helps your body get rid of that LDL.

1. The total amount of cholesterol in your blood therefore says relatively little about the risk of cardiovascular disease. Much more important is the ratio between LDL and HDL. If you have a relatively large amount of HDL, the risk of heart problems remains a lot lower than with a relatively large amount of LDL.

1. That's important to keep in mind when it comes to eggs. One egg contains a lot of cholesterol: 212 mg, while the recommended daily maximum is 300 mg. That sounds quite alarming. Not surprising, therefore, that it is not recommended to eat several eggs a day.

1. But… not all that cholesterol is of the bad LDL type. In fact, this research shows that high egg consumption also mainly increases your HDL and improves your cholesterol ratio! And this study concludes that eating an egg a day does not increase the risk of heart problems.

1. More research needs to be done on this. For example, it appears that diabetes patients can experience problems from eating a lot of eggs. But all in all, as this study indicates, eggs have much less of an impact on cholesterol levels than other diet and lifestyle factors.

Calories in eggs

1. Then there is often a second reason for not having eggs: the calories. A frequently heard claim is that eggs would make you fat. However, that is also not so bad. One egg contains less than 80 calories. You really do not suddenly end up with a calorie surplus when the rest of your diet is in order.

1. Some of these calories come from fats, but these are healthy fats. These are important for various bodily functions. In addition, the proteins certainly contribute to the recovery and building of your muscles. So an egg regularly fits perfectly in your diet if you are trying to watch your weight!

How many eggs per day?

1. What does all this mean for how many eggs per day you can eat? The most recent studies suggest that the Nutrition Center's 2-3 per week is really unnecessarily tight. If you eat 1-2 eggs a day (or 10-12 a week), you shouldn't expect any major problems.

1. Of course that does depend a bit on the rest of your diet. If you also eat a lot of saturated fat, you run a bit more risk in terms of cholesterol. It is better to slow down with eggs. Conversely: do you eat very little saturated fats, or do you eat vegetarian, for example? Then it's okay to sit on the high side.

1. And of course it doesn't have to be perfect every day. You can eat four eggs in a day, if that happens to be convenient. Then only take it a bit slower for the rest of the week, so that you still stay around 10-12 in total.

Which eggs are the healthiest?

1. Then another question that we are regularly asked: which eggs should you eat? Brown? White? Free-range or organic, or with extra omega 3? We will briefly discuss here whether and how much that matters!

1. We can be brief about this: the color of an egg says nothing about the content. Brown and white eggs contain the same amount of nutrients on average. The difference is caused by a dye in the skin that some chicken breeds produce, while others don't.

1. Many people think that brown eggs are healthier, also because they are often slightly more expensive in the supermarket. Now that you know that's not the case, you can save a few cents on that!

1. Another factor does influence the nutritional value of eggs: the chicken's lifestyle. The better the nutrition and health of such a chicken, the healthier the eggs are. Furthermore, eggs contain much more vitamin D if the chickens can also get outside. For that reason, organic eggs are slightly healthier.

1. Moreover, these chickens simply live better, with more space and without mutilations like clipped beaks. If you care about animal welfare, these eggs are the best choice anyway.

1. There is one type of egg that is healthier than the others anyway: omega-3 enriched eggs. The chickens that lay these eggs are fed much more omega-3 fatty acids. As a result, their eggs also contain much more of it. The ratio between omega-3 and omega-6 becomes much healthier that way.

1. These eggs also often taste better. The fats in the egg provide a richer taste. So organic omega-3 eggs will likely be the optimal variety for many people to choose at the supermarket. Whatever color their eggshells are!

Recipes with egg

1. Do you want to eat eggs more often, but you don't really know what to do with it? It's a shame to always just boil your egg! There are many more delicious recipes with egg possible. In this blog we give you six suggestions.

1. Do you have any tasty egg recipes you would like to share with us? We'd love to hear from you in the comments!