Eggs and muscle training: Are they bad for your health? How many eggs can be eaten per day? Raw or cooked? What if I’m training? Below I help you answer these and more questions!
Eggs are among the most nutritious foods on the planet. If you don’t believe me, consider this… A whole egg contains all the nutrients needed to turn a single cell into a small chick.
However, and despite their virtues, eggs have had a bad reputation, and basically because the yolks are rich in cholesterol. In fact, a single medium-sized egg contains 186 mg of cholesterol, which is 62% of the recommended daily intake.
People believed that if you ate more than one egg, it would increase blood cholesterol and contribute to the onset of cardiovascular disease. But it turns out that in reality this is not so.
Let me explain how the issue of cholesterol works and how we associate it with this food so that at the end of the article, we can know how many eggs we can eat per day …
EGGS, TRAINING AND HEALTH
Eggs are an excellent, low-calorie way to get protein, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other healthy nutrients.
One large egg can contain 6 grams of high-quality protein in just 70 calories. Eggs also contain varying amounts of 13 essential vitamins and minerals. But how many eggs can you eat per day?
For many years, eggs were attacked because of their high cholesterol content and possible association with cardiovascular disease.
However, the most recent studies show that the cholesterol present in eggs has very little impact on the amount of total cholesterol in our body.
In case you don’t know, cholesterol is a compound found in the body of animals. And it is necessary to produce hormones, vitamin D and certain substances that help us digest food.
Our body produces cholesterol, but in addition to the cholesterol we produce, we also get a small amount from some of the foods we eat.
HOW DOES THE BODY REGULATE CHOLESTEROL?
Cholesterol is often seen as a negative word. When we hear it, we automatically start thinking about medications and heart attacks.
But the truth is that cholesterol is a very important substance for our body. It is a structural molecule that is an essential part of every cell membrane.
It is also used to produce steroid hormones such as testosterone, estrogen, and cortisol.
Without cholesterol, we wouldn’t even exist.
Given how incredibly important cholesterol is, the body has developed elaborate forms to ensure that we always have enough available.
Because getting cholesterol through diet wasn’t always straightforward, the liver has the ability to produce cholesterol.
But you didn’t know this! When we eat a lot of cholesterol-rich foods, the liver begins to produce less and less (1, 2).
So, the total amount of cholesterol in the body changes very little (if at all), in these cases it only comes from the diet rather than from the liver (3, 4).
Therefore, the liver itself produces large amounts of cholesterol. But if we start eating a diet that includes more and more eggs, the liver will begin to produce less cholesterol, since you will not need to.
HOW DOES EGG INFLUENCE CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE?
Many studies have looked at egg consumption and heart disease risk.
All of these studies are called observational studies. In studies like these, large groups of people are followed for many years.
Researchers then use statistical methods to determine whether certain habits (such as diet, smoking, or exercise) are linked to a lower or increased risk of disease.
These studies, some of which include hundreds of thousands of people, consistently show that people who eat whole eggs are no more likely to develop heart disease. Some of the studies even show a reduced risk of stroke (a and b).
However, one thing worth noting is that these studies show that diabetics who eat eggs DO have an increased risk of heart disease (C).
SO, DO YOU HAVE TO EAT MORE OR LESS EGGS?
For a long time, people have been advised to limit egg consumption to no more than 1 egg yolk a day (the white is mostly protein and has low cholesterol content).
Common recommendations include a maximum of 2 to 6 yolks per week. However, there really isn’t much scientific support for these limitations (5), what’s more, luckily, we have several excellent studies that can put our minds at ease.
In these studies, people are divided into two groups… One group eats several whole eggs per day (between 1-3), the other group instead eats something different to replace the eggs. The researchers then follow the people for several weeks/months.
These studies show that:
- In almost all cases, HDL cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol) increases (6, 7).
- Total and LDL cholesterol levels (the “bad” cholesterol) usually do not change, although they sometimes increase slightly (8, 9).
- Eating eggs enriched with omega-3s may lower blood triglycerides, another major risk factor (10, 11).
- Blood levels of carotenoid antioxidants such as lutein and zeaxanthin increase significantly (12, 13).
We could say that the response to total egg consumption depends on the individual.
In 70% of people, it has no effect on total or LDL cholesterol. However, in 30% of people (called “hyper responders”), these figures rise slightly (18).
In summary, it could be stated that up to 3 whole eggs per day are perfectly safe for healthy people trying to stay healthy, at least for 7 out of 10 people.
HOW MANY EGGS PER DAY CAN A TRAINEE EAT?
We already saw that the maximum number of eggs that can be eaten daily is between 1-3, and these include whole eggs, those that include white and yolk. But if you are training and you are looking for an excellent source of protein in eggs, you have to make some adjustments.
First, for the muscle building process to be successful, an essential amino acid called leucine is important. And our body requires 2.5 grams of leucine for the muscle building process to begin. Reaching this amount can be achieved by eating 4-6 eggs a day. But… Wouldn’t we be overdoing it then?
Yes, but there is something to consider how it is formed and what is the nutritional composition of the egg:
- On the one hand we have the clear (the “transparent” part) that contains very small nutritional values, but has a very high protein content.
- On the other hand, there is the yolk, which has many nutrients. Basically, this is where most of the nutrients in an egg are found.
If a bodybuilder only eats the egg yolk constantly, it will not trigger the muscle building process, no matter how many eggs he eats.
And while it has many nutritional benefits, this automatically disqualifies egg yolk in any bodybuilding workout.
What bodybuilders need is egg white, which is high in protein.
In this sense you should consume high levels of egg white, as it is the most important part, as it will activate the muscle building process.
So how many eggs can I eat in a day? My recommendation is up to a maximum of 3 whole eggs a day (white and yolk) and then supplementing only with egg white, depending on the amount of protein you need depending on your body mass.
Of course, never eat raw eggs, you run the risk of suffering a picture of salmonellosis, and you will also incorporate only a fraction of the proteins, since the raw egg white is not well absorbed.