wellness tips

Eggs are healthy and diet sodas are not

July 29, 2007 at 12:38 am · Filed under Eat

Slowly the evidence is mounting that there is absolutely no need to be afraid of eating eggs, despite the fact that they are high in cholesterol. Hopefully soon the mainstream medical establishment will go that one step further and acknowledge that there is no association between cholesterol levels and heart disease, as is blatantly obvious in the graph at the end of this entertaining article by Dr. Malcolm Kendrick comparing percent-population with high cholesterol and death rates from CHD in various countries. That said, eating cholesterol does not seem to increase cholesterol levels in the body, and eggs are an extremely nutritious food, so there is no harm in eating them every day if you want to. Hard-boiled eggs can be packed along as a healthy protein snack – much healthier than those processed protein bars that contain a list of chemicals a mile long, and just as convenient, and also much healthier than protein shakes made from protein-isolate. So, enjoy your eggs!

The other interesting study that was publicized this week noted an association between soda pop, both diet and regular, and metabolic syndrome and heart disease. The association for regular pop is a no-brainer, but that diet pop is also problematic is surprising, as diet pop contains no sugar nor high fructose corn syrup, so why would such an association exist? Perhaps part of the reason for the association is that when the body detects a sweet taste it expects carbohydrate nutrition, and when the gut finds none from the diet drink, the brain sends a message to make you hungry so that you will eat more food in the hopes of getting some nutrition. Consequently, eating "diet foods" may result in consuming more calories. The second possibility which has been pointed out by others that have tried to explain the surprising results, is that frequently those that drink diet pop also eat fast or processed food, and it is the fast or processed food that is creating the association with heart disease and metabolic syndrome. A third potential reason that I have not seen suggested anywhere but comes to my mind, is that aspartame is a toxin and the products it degrades into are also toxins, which may cause systemic inflammation in the body. Inflammation of the arteries is an integral part of the cardiovascular disease process, so consuming foods that cause an inflammatory response would probably be associated with heart disease. The toxin theory does not explain the association with metabolic syndrome however.