Eggs are one of the few foods that should be classified as “superfoods.”

They are loaded with nutrients, some of which are rare in the modern diet.

Here are 10 health benefits of eggs that have been confirmed in human studies.

1. Incredibly Nutritious

Eggs are among the most nutritious foods on the planet.

A whole egg contains all the nutrients required to turn a single cell into a baby chicken.

A single large boiled egg contains (1):

  • Vitamin A: 6% of the RDA
  • Folate: 5% of the RDA
  • Vitamin B5: 7% of the RDA
  • Vitamin B12: 9% of the RDA
  • Vitamin B2: 15% of the RDA
  • Phosphorus: 9% of the RDA
  • Selenium: 22% of the RDA
  • Eggs also contain decent amounts of vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K, vitamin B6, calcium and zinc

This comes with 77 calories, 6 grams of protein and 5 grams of healthy fats.

Eggs also contain various trace nutrients that are important for health.

In fact, eggs are pretty much the perfect food. They contain a little bit of almost every nutrient you need.

If you can get your hands on pastured or omega-3 enriched eggs, these are even better. They contain higher amounts of omega-3 fat and are much higher in vitamin A and E (2, 3).

SUMMARYWhole eggs are among the most nutritious foods on the planet, containing a little bit of almost every nutrient you need. Omega-3 enriched and/or pastured eggs are even healthier.

2. High in Cholesterol, but Don’t Adversely Affect Blood Cholesterol

It is true that eggs are high in cholesterol.

In fact, a single egg contains 212 mg, which is over half of the recommended daily intake of 300 mg.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that cholesterol in the diet doesn’t necessarily raise cholesterol in the blood (4, 5Trusted Source).

The liver actually produces large amounts of cholesterol every single day. When you increase your intake of dietary cholesterol, your liver simply produces less cholesterol to even it out (6Trusted Source, 7Trusted Source).

Nevertheless, the response to eating eggs varies between individuals (8Trusted Source):

  • In 70% of people, eggs don’t raise cholesterol at all
  • In the other 30% (termed “hyper responders”), eggs can mildly raise total and LDL cholesterol

However, people with genetic disorders like familial hypercholesterolemia or a gene variant called ApoE4 may want to limit or avoid eggs.

SUMMARYEggs are high in cholesterol, but eating eggs does not adversely affect cholesterol in the blood for the majority of people.
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