Are Eggs Unhealthy? The Shocking Truth About Eggs

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According to vegan charity Viva!, egg consumption has been linked to heart disease, cancer and food poisoning among other issues.

Many people believe eggs are healthy – and that free-range eggs are ethical. The average American consumes about 279 every year, and the average Brit almost 200.

Spoiler alert: they are not.

So have a look at why consuming eggs can hurt your health – as well as chickens.

Cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, and eggs

Egg yolks are loaded with cholesterol. A medium-sized egg contains 186 mg of cholesterol, which is 62 percent of the recommended intake.

This increases your risk of cardiovascular disease.

In fact, Nutritionfacts.org says some experts suggest that eating just one a day may exceed the safe upper limit for cholesterol intake in terms of cardiovascular disease risk.

Cancer risk

Can eating dietary cholesterol – which is found in eggs among other animal products – increase cancer risk?

According to nutritionfacts.org: “The largest nationwide population-based case–control study [to date] to assess the association between cholesterol intake and several types of cancer.

“And, they found ‘dietary cholesterol intake was…associated with’ increased risk of cancers of the stomach, colon, rectum, pancreas, lung, breast, kidney, bladder and bone marrow—non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.”

Viva! adds: “There’s a strong link between egg consumption and ovarian cancer – one or two eggs a week increase the risk by 70 percent, more than two and it rises to 80 percent.”

In addition, Viva! says, they also contain choline. “They are by far the richest dietary source. Too much choline has been linked to ovarian and prostate cancer and heart disease.”

According to plant-based physician Dr. Greger, men who eat even less than one egg a day appear to have twice the risk of prostate progression compared to men who rarely eat them.

He adds: “And, men who consume two and a half or more eggs per week—basically an egg every three days—may have an 81 percent increased risk of dying from prostate cancer.”

Dr. Greger also cites choline as the potential culprit behind this increased risk factor.

Food poisoning and eggs

Eggs pose the risk of salmonella poisoning. And salmonella bacteria can survive cooking if the eggs are still runny. In fact, the FDA recommends using eggs that have been treated to destroy salmonella through pasteurization if recipes that require undercooking.

But why put yourself at risk?

This bacteria is a leading cause of food poisoning-related hospitalizations and the top cause of food poisoning-related death, says Dr. Greger.

The industry grinds up millions of male chickens alive

And health isn’t the only issue when it comes to eggs. Many consumers are unaware of the cruelty rife in the industry – including chick culling

The egg industry kills newly-hatched male chicks for which the hatcheries have no use. Male chicks are redundant to the laying industries because they don’t lay.

This is the case for all industrialized egg production in both the U.S and U.K. This is regardless of whether the eggs are free-range, organic, or battery cage.

The majority of culling methods don’t involve anaesthetic. However, they do include cervical dislocation and asphyxiation by carbon dioxide. And in addition, the American industry’s favorite: maceration using a high speed grinder.

A spokesman for the British Egg Information Service has said the practice of culling male chicks has been in place ‘as long as the industry has been there’.

U.S egg hatcheries grind up as many as 200 million male chicks every year.

The egg industry is much more cruel than many consumers think Credit: Adobe. Do not use without permission

Cruelty

Female chicks survive being minced alive. However, instead, they will have their beaks cut off (or burnt off) without anaesthesia or pain relief. Producers do this to try and prevent hens from injuring themselves or each other while living in such cramped conditions.

Chickens in battery cages live in such small areas that they are unable to spread their wings – ever.

Even in the best-case scenario, a hen spends her life crowded in a space about the size of a file drawer with several others. She will be unable to lift a single wing.

Disease also runs rampant in the cramped sheds – partly because egg-laying hens are forced to urinate and defecate on each other.

After two years of living in these conditions, the birds have suffered from severe bone loss. In addition, as they’re ripped from their cages, tens of millions suffer new broken bones.

After laying, hens’ bodies become exhausted, farmers then ship them off to the slaughterhouse.

“Consumers should be aware that this is what they are paying for when they buy eggs,” says says Animal Aid. “Regardless of whether they are from caged or free-range hens.”

These intelligent animals suffer horribly their entire lives (Photo: We Animals)

Intelligent animals

According to research, chickens outperform both dogs and cats on tests of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral complexity.

Dr. Jane Goodall explains: “Farm animals feel pleasure and sadness, excitement and resentment, depression, fear, and pain.

“They are far more aware and intelligent than we ever imagined… they are individuals in their own right.”

Research from the University of Bristol has also demostrated how intelligent chickens are.

It says: “Chickens do not just live in the present but can anticipate the future and demonstrate self-control. [This is] something previously attributed only to humans and other primates.”