Now it's an egg a day to reduce risk of stroke

Eating up to one egg a day has no association with coronary heart disease (CHD) but does reduce the risk of stroke by 12%, a meta-analysis has suggested. 

Remember when eggs were demonised as cholesterol-promoting bombs and the traditional bacon and egg breakfast was even more soundly derided? Of course you do and what a load of rubbish that was, based on seriously flawed research and incomplete understanding of the real culprits in coronary heart disease. Despite the evidence that is now overwhelmingly in favour of including plenty of eggs and healthy fats in our diet and of reducing the sugars and grains, it’s going to take a very long time to switch the ‘eggs and fat promote cholesterol and cholesterol is bad’ mentality. 

As far as eggs are concerned, this latest study, suggesting the benefits of an egg a day is hardly new. I blogged about the positive power of eggs in 2013, and have no hesitation in repeating myself…

Consumption of eggs is not associated with an increased risk of heart disease or stroke! An analysis by the prestigious BMJ (British Medical Journal) of eight studies and more than half a million participants, might hopefully remove the stigma from the much-maligned egg. What led us to swear off eggs was set in motion when a long-ago researcher fed cholesterol-containing eggs to rabbits (obligatory herbivores). Now almost 100 years since the original research, it’s interesting to reflect that Anitschkov never concluded from his experiments that cholesterol in the diet caused atherosclerosis in humans. But somehow his simplified work entered the pop science mainstream, setting a whole cholesterol-reduction industry in motion and spawned several generations of consumers studiously avoiding a God-given, nutrient-laden, healthy food choice! Well, let’s be more specific here ... the God-given eggs laid by wide-roaming, omnivorous hens, free to eat snails, bugs, grain and greens are what I’m referring to. The alternative eggs, yolks potentially coloured by additives in the feed, from battery hens, forced into laying non-stop, don’t cut the mustard. 

If you’re in any doubt about the need to buy organically raised and fed produce, check out the movie Samsara and while you’re out looking for good eggs from chooks that are free to roam, consider eating the shells too. Latest calcium and other mineral-enriched additive from the food industry is ... guess what? You got it, straight from organic egg shells. Chuck em into the blender with your fruit and yoghurt smoothie.

The Mediterranean diet is under threat

“The Mediterranean diet is under threat as cash-strapped consumers in southern European countries are spending less on fresh foods and more on cheaper packaged foods, according to new research.”

How sad is this? Whenever I travel in Mediterranean countries I’m delighted by the wide variety of fresh, whole, healthy foodstuffs available around every corner and in multiple growers’ markets across the region. My February 2012 sojourn in Istanbul was no exception and despite snow on the ground, I was overwhelmed with choice of healthy grain dishes (think beyond wheat), vegetables, seafood and meat in mouth-watering combinations. Pomegranates and pomegranate juice, the very essence of food and drink for fertility, were everywhere! Notable by their relative absence were packaged, fast-food items. The fact that large numbers of the population still smoke like trains is another issue - but I digress.

One significant, but under-estimated feature of Mediterranean diets, is their emphasis on enjoyment of the meal, time out in sociable surroundings with a glass of wine to enhance the lovingly prepared food and the pleasant company. But add it all up ... right combo of food groups, healthy oils, time taken to prepare and savour, a glass of vino and the health issues in these societies are nothing compared to those in the Western world where 50 years of refining, packaging, processing and increasingly, eating on the run, have taken their toll. The so-called “French Paradox” has confounded researchers for years. The French eat three times more saturated fat yet have only one third of the coronary artery disease of Americans!

We can only hope that the economic malaise afflicting Greece, Spain, Italy and potentially others, doesn’t completely reverse long-established and well-balanced attitudes to food - the aptly named “mindful eating”. After all, when times are tough, a fine meal and a cheering glass of wine may be the best single antidote to the doom and gloom. Vive le paradoxe francais!