Farm-fresh eggs and cholesterol?

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I was just thinking about something, after reading an article on the nutritional differences between commercial and range-raised meats and eggs. Some years ago, when my husband had a physical, the doctor commented on his low cholesterol, and asked how many eggs he ate every week. Well, at the time we had thirty or forty hens laying, so hubby's answer was something on the order of "At least two or three a day, usually more." The doctor kind of choked, and told him he was okay now, but had better cut back -- he didn't, of course! His cholesterol has stayed low through the years, and most of the time we've been eating plenty of our own eggs. So what I'm wondering is if anybody else has had the same type of experience -- whether it was the eggs keeping his cholesterol down (mine is also low) or whether it was a coincidence?

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 18, 2000

Answers

Hi Kathleen. I ran across something not long ago about the effects of hydrogenated vegetable oils in the diet and I was just appalled. It seems that they not only destroy the HDL cholesterol, the good stuff, but they add to the LDL, or bad cholesterol in the blood stream. If you read ingredient labels on commercial foods, you will see hydrogenated fats listed because they don't become rancid as fast as non treated vegetable oil. However, I will bet you somewhere on the package is a big red banner or something similar that tells the consumer that the product contains no cholesterol. Also the type of liquid oils you use make a difference. Olive oils contain Omega 3 fatty acids as do fish such as salmon and these reduce the LDL's while increasing the HDL's. If your diet is high in whole grain foods, including oats and beans, you are doing yourself a favor. Flax meal and oil help as well.

Doctors are notoriously uneducated about nutrition (and creating wellness, rather than treating illness-a whole 'nuther story)and tell you to eat a balanced diet when they have no idea what that is themselves. They don't take into consideration how said diet was grown (on fields fertilized with NPK only or manures, minerals, cover crops, etc), processed (highly refined?) and prepared to eat (vegetables cooked until they are olive drab?). The same has to apply to livestock and the big bugaboo of the resulting food items, dairy, red meat, etc. I'm far more concerned with BGH, antibiotic residues and implants to improve weight gains.

There has to be somewhere a person who will honestly test such things at some point. Look at EcoFarm from Acres USA for information on nutritional values of hybrid crops compared to the old open pollenated varieties. It's just amazing! As long as big business owns the seed companies and funds the research, for my money the results of that research are suspect. I don't remember which Monsanto travesty it was, the terminator seed or GMO, but the only 2 studies were done by Monsanto scientists. Gee, I get this warm, fuzzy feeling of safety over that one, don't you?

Oh, please, somebody help me down from this soapbox. And all you asked about was cholesterol.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), April 18, 2000.


High lipids in the blood is a genetic thing. You inherit the propensity for high cholesterol. Some people eat no eggs and are vegetarians and still struggle to keep cholesterol levels under 200; while others can eat anything they want and carry 100 pounds more weight than they should and routinely register a 150. Doesn't have anything to do with free range vs. commercial. Your doctor should know this. It would be nice to believe that "home raised" fat is better than commercial fat; but it isn't realistic, fat is fat! :-)) However, contrary to what I just said, the cholesterol in goats milk is supposedly better than the same in cow's. Something to do with the molecular-level make up of the fat globules. So, go figure.

Then again, EB advertises that their eggs have less cholesterol than other eggs, claiming feeding practices can control the cholesterol levels. Perhaps free ranging can improve or worsen cholesterol levels in the yolk depending on what they are eating. Still, having high cholesterol or low cholesterol isn't dependent on where you got your eggs...but where you got your genes. ;-)

-- Jim Roberts (jroberts1@cas.org), April 18, 2000.


Adelle Davis, a nutritionist back in the '50s, said if you eat the whole egg you don't have to worry about cholesterol. The whites have Lecithin, it gets rid of the bad cholesterol. Also, stress is a big factor. A friend's doctor was quite surprised that she eats around 21 eggs a week. My step-g'pa ate at least that, store bought and farm fresh, and lard, didn't have a bit of problem.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony@yahoo.com), April 18, 2000.

What great answers! You could elimanate alot of disease if we could get partially-hydroginized fats off of the market, it's even in peanut butter! I think a diet that is unprocessed as much as possible is the key, and if you drink milk, eat eggs and meat, home grown is so much better. Course with some of the dosages you hear folks giving their animals, poisonous material around the garden and animals and no idea about milk and meat withdrawl times on their wormers and antibiotics, guess some might just be better off buying from the store! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 18, 2000.

I eat quite a few eggs, too, probably averaging a dozen a week. I've had the results of my physical presented as "Well, all the tests are normal, except one. Your cholesterol level is far better than we would expect. Do you do a lot of jogging or something?" Well, my theory is that God only gave us 2 reasons to run - to catch something or to escape from something. I do get a lot of exercise and my cholesterol is not all THAT low, it's just predominantly the "good stuff". I do remember a report that claimed that free range eggs were better than others, but I have no idea what the basis for the claim was.

-- Brad (Maine) (homefixer@mix-net.net), April 19, 2000.


I just looked up the url for the website I was looking at:

http://eatwild.com

Check it out and see if you think their results are valid -- I never know when to trust this kind of thing, as everybody comes up with different conclusions based on the same numbers.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 19, 2000.


I think part of the answer is exercise and stress levels. If you are on the go (feed the animals, chop the wood, weed the garden, etc.) your weight and cholesterol levels will be lower, simply because you are active. I lost eight lbs because of this without altering my diet. I believe that the more you are around animals, the less stress you have, (unless there is something wrong, and then you have more!). This can both affect how your body metabolizes everything you eat. annette

-- annette (j_a_henry@yahoo.com), April 19, 2000.

last I heard (they seem to change the answer every other week) is that eating cholesterol doesn't affect your cholesterol level. It's fat that does that. Cholesterol is something your body manufactures out of fat. The fact that something is loaded with cholesterol or has none is totally irrelevant. Since cholesterol is made by the body and is depenendent on exercise, stress and diet, it seems reasonable to me that free-range chickens (exercised, low-stress, well-fed animals) would produce eggs that are lower in cholesterol - not that it matters since it's fat (and genes) that's the problem.

-- Deborah (ActuaryMom@hotmail.com), April 19, 2000.

We had chickens up until about 3 years ago. This spring we have gotten more chicks. We had three reasons: (1) We were healthier when we were eating at least an egg a day, (2) We miss the taste of homegrown fresh eggs--nobody enjoys the storebought, and (3) The kids and I cannot resist the sight of baby chickens!

-- Kathleen Glasscock (katglassco@aol.com), April 20, 2000.

I believe if we eat unadulterated food as God made it, get plenty of exercise, clean fresh air, drink plenty of good clean water we will be pretty healthy. We also need enough rest. As these are as God planned for us. Unfortunately, most of the food we buy now has been changed so much it is not worth eating. Home grown is always better and that includes eggs! The medical medical profession doesn't know diddly squat about nutrition!

-- barbara (barbaraj@mis.net), April 20, 2000.


IMHO the hydrogenated oils in packaged foods contribute to much of the evil in our foods, in turn so badly affecting our bodies. I started a low sugar (Sugar Busters) diet about three years ago, and my triglycerides went from consistently 300 to normal, my cholesteral total was still too high, but the HDL was very high and the LDL was normal. I often eat an omelet with cheese, beef and more cheese. I feel so much better eating this way and staying away from packeaged anything. I eat complex carbs, and protein and take lots of vitamins and herbs and all my blood work in normal, but I am, unfortunately, still overweight. For being 53 and overweight, I consider myself lucky to have no serious health problems, except the usual aches and pains of aging.

Farm raised anything has to be the best for ya.

Blessings,

Judy

-- Judy Murray (jmurray@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu), April 20, 2000.


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