Are Eggs Inflammatory?
Are Eggs Inflammatory on the Endometriosis Diet?
There’s a lot of hype around eggs. The paleo community loves them, the vegans do not. We’re told they’re nutritious, or they’re inflammatory. What gives??
The general truth about eggs is that they’re a highly nutritious food! The yolk is a condensed form of nutrition that rivals organ meats, and the whole package is rich in the proteins and fats to build a healthy body and brain.
However, there are a few issues to consider, most important being if you (reading this) tolerate them. One of my kids does, and one of my kids doesn’t. Who’s side are you on? Read on to discover!
“Eggs Are Inflammatory” Isn’t a True Statement
When you hear eggs cause inflammation, folks are usually referring to the omega 6:3 in eggs balance being so askew. A perfect omega 6:3 ratio is between 3:1 and 1:1, with anything higher promoting inflammation. Most eggs have a naturally higher omega ratio, ranging between 11:1 and 19:1 (although pastured eggs don’t, more on that below!).
The myth here is that while, yes, the ratio is off balance, the total amount of omegas is incredibly minimal.
Vegetable oils, on the other hand, contribute 13x more omega-6’s to the American diet than meat, eggs, and dairy all combined. (1)
Consider it like this. Eggs offer you a few “grains of sand” worth of omega6s, while veggie oils offer you an entire sand castle. So we really can’t say eggs are a huge contributor to the amount of omega 6’s in the diet.
The inflammation level of eggs is more about how you react to them (I detail this below, so keep reading).
EGGS ARE NUTRIENT DENSE, WHICH FIGHTS INFLAMMATION
Pastured eggs often have a deep orange colored yolk, indicative of the nutrients within.
Eggs are basically a perfect food. 1 egg offers you 6g of complete protein, 5g of healthy fat, and a smorgasbord of nutrients! You get B vitamins, preformed vitamin A, selenium, phosphorus, and more!
Eggs also have choline, a essential nutrient that we’re often quite deficient in. It’s know for it’s ability to heal stress reactions (calm out-of-control adrenals), support brain function, and help in the process of methylation, which is essential for detoxification. This is actually why eggs are referred to as “brain food”, because they contain so much choline, and a reason egg yolks should be one of baby’s first foods.
Although choline is an essential nutrient, there’s no RDA for it, so we will have to follow was the Nation Academy of Science listed as amount needed: 450-550 mg/day. And lucky for us, pastured eggs are one of the absolute richest sources of choline, containing 25-35% of this amount per egg.
Even better if you can get your hands on some pastured eggs. “Pastured” refers to how the animal lives, being outside in the sun and scratching in fields of grass and dirt for bugs.
In a 2010 study Penn State researchers compared eggs from pastured hens to those of hens fed a commercial diet, and the differences were incredible. They had in them:
2⁄3 more vitamin A
2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
3 times more vitamin E
7 times more beta carotene
4 to 6 times more vitamin D
Eggs Can Be Inflammatory if YOU React: Eggs and Leaky Gut
Believe it or not, egg sensitivities are skyrocketing right alongside gluten, dairy, soy. This is most likely due to the same reason: our gut integrity is so damaged that our immune system is reacting to these normal food proteins.
This is thanks to something called gut hyper-permeability, or leaky gut, something all of us with endo may have (yikes). Leaky gut occurs when the gut lining becomes so damaged from what’s happening inside the intestinal tract (dysbiosis, inflammation, etc) that food proteins can leak into the bloodstream. Your immune system hates whole proteins, that it assumes are bacteria or viruses invading. As they prompt an immune response on this invader (which could be egg proteins in this case), you may develop symptoms of inflammation with this food, or perhaps digestive issues as well.
Inflammatory symptoms can include issues such as insomnia, headaches, joint pain, endo pain, period pain, skin rashes, eczema, psoriasis, brain fog, chronic fatigue, and more. Yup, many symptoms
Luckily, you can heal from leaky gut and may also be able to heal your egg sensitivity in the meantime. Check out my Endo Belly Ebook for an in-depth guide on everything endometriosis + intestinal health.