For years, the mainstream medical establishment has been scrambled about eggs and clouded about dairy products, to say the least.
These healthy and wholesome foods have been blamed for everything from heart disease to obesity. But the science never showed the harms the U.S. government tried to claim come from eating these foods.
In fact, one important new study found that eating at least one egg a day can actually lower your risk of cardiovascular disease.
And that’s not the only evidence about the health effects of eggs and dairy that the mainstream continues to ignore. Let’s take a closer look—starting with the incredible, edible egg.
Nature’s perfect health food
In recent years, some members of the mainstream have begun touting the health benefits of eggs. But this nutritious food has been demonized for so long that the message is clearly not getting through.
Case in point: I just can’t believe how many misinformed people still order egg-white omelets. These people mistakenly believe that avoiding the naturally occurring cholesterol in egg yolks is healthier for their hearts. But as I’ve written many times before, dietary cholesterol isn’t a risk factor for heart disease.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with egg whites. They are pure protein, which your body needs. But the real, rich nutritional content of eggs is all in the yolk—which contains essential fatty acids, calcium, selenium, phosphorus, zinc, the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, and vitamins A, B, D, E, and K.
Plus, eggs are good sources of phosphatidylcholine—a nutrient that’s been shown in multiple studies to help improve cognitive performance and protect against dementia.
No other food has this many nutrients in a single serving, plain and simple. That’s why Dr. C. Everett Koop, my former professor and the former U.S. surgeon general under Presidents Reagan and Bush, would always start his day with whole eggs—not egg whites. And it’s why I’ve always recommended you do the same!
I’ve written before about my breakfasts with Dr, Koop in the 1980s and 1990s. Along with two or three eggs, he ordered a glass of whole milk. He said this combination was the only thing that gave him the energy to get through his busy day. (Not carbs, like the bread, bagels, muffins, and cereals that the big food industry and their mainstream minions like to push.)
Egged on by misinformation
Clearly, Dr. Koop wasn’t worried about the propaganda linking eggs with cardiovascular disease. He knew the real science. In fact, 20 years ago, there was a major study that found no association between egg consumption and higher risk of heart disease.1
Now, the misinformation campaign against eggs started at least 40 years ago, meaning it took another 20 years to do an actual study—which then showed the anti-egg nuts were all wrong, all along. But nevertheless, they remain persistent.
However, the new study I mentioned earlier may finally expose the cracks in their arguments…
What we’ve learned from nearly 2 million egg eaters
Harvard researchers looked at studies that tracked more than 215,000 men and women for 32 years. And they analyzed another 28 studies that included more than 1.7 million people.2
Like the study 20 years ago, this new study showed that eating an egg a day is not associated with a higher risk of heart disease.
Plus, the study demonstrated that even increasing your consumption by an extra egg per day still didn’t boost your risk of heart disease.
And this study went even further than the previous study, analyzing egg consumption by ethnicity.
The researchers found that Americans and Europeans who ate an egg a day had no higher risk of heart disease than non-egg eaters. And, interestingly, egg consumption was actually associated with a lower risk of heart disease among Asian populations.
But wait, there’s more…
Egg lovers stay healthy in other ways
The Harvard researchers found that people who ate eggs also had a higher body mass index (BMI), consumed more red meat, and were less likely to take statin drugs (meaning they had higher cholesterol) than those who didn’t consume eggs.
But the egg eaters still didn’t have a higher risk of heart disease.
These findings go against all of the usual disease risk factors that the politically correct like to round up. For instance, I’ve written before about how the mainstream has been all wrong, all along about eating red meat. Plus, research shows a little extra body fat may actually be protective for your health as you age.
And of course, we all know how harmful statins are for both body and brain. (I revealed more shocking new research about the dangers of statins in last month’s issue of Insiders’ Cures.) So it seems like people who regularly eat eggs may also be doing other things to improve their health—even if the mainstream doesn’t think so.
The bottom line is that while the size of this new study is huge, the findings shouldn’t be. After all, there was never any reason to label eggs as unhealthy in the first place.
So, now that we’ve busted the myths about eggs, let’s move on to dairy products.
Skimming the controversies about milk and dairy
Like eggs, dairy had traditionally had a positive image. Generations of Americans were raised to think of cow’s milk as creamy, delicious, nutritious, and filling. And yogurt is often touted as a health food due to its probiotic content.
In fact, dairy products are considered so essential to our health that the U.S. dietary guidelines recommend three servings a day.
Of course, cheese and yogurt are key components of the Mediterranean diet (although the “experts” don’t like to tell you that). And, as you know, the single most consistent finding on diet and health throughout the years is that the Mediterranean diet is the healthiest eating plan in the western world, as I discuss on page 5.
That said, in recent years, milk has been getting a bad rap for its lactose content. And cheese has been criticized for its cholesterol content, even though—as we just discussed with eggs—dietary cholesterol isn’t a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
And if that weren’t bad enough, a new scientific review questions whether milk and other dairy products really “do a body good.”3
Researchers question dairy’s role in building strong bones
We all know dairy is high in calcium (which should always come from dietary sources, not supplements). And calcium is a key nutrient for healthy bones.
But the scientific review cites population studies showing that people who eat the most dairy have the highest rates of bone fractures. The researchers note that high dairy consumption during childhood results in longer bones, and long bones are easier to break.
Consequently, the researchers questioned whether dairy is really necessary to meet our daily calcium requirement.
But as I’ve written before, there’s more to bone health than just calcium. You also need vitamins C and D, boron, magnesium, and other key minerals.
So researchers aren’t seeing the whole picture when they look at dairy only through the lens of calcium. They’re basing their opinions on dairy’s nutritional value solely on how it contributes to bone health…rather than all of the other health conditions dairy products can prevent or improve.
Why full-fat dairy is so good for you
Of course, dairy contains many more nutrients than calcium. Full-fat milk, cheese, yogurt, and other dairy products are rich sources of protein. And they’re loaded with vitamins A, B, and D, along with potassium and phosphorus.
Increasingly, many people don’t get enough protein from sources like fish and meat to maintain healthy muscle mass—especially as they get older, and especially among men. But dairy can help fill the gap.
I’ve also written about studies showing that full-fat dairy can actually lower your risk of obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes. But the key words in that sentence are “full fat.” Which guarantees nothing has been added (like sugar) or taken away.
The fat in dairy products is an excellent source of essential fatty acids and the fat-soluble vitamins A and D. Meanwhile, artificially “low-fat” or “no-fat” dairy products contain much less of these key nutrients.
That’s why I always recommend full-fat whole milk, cheese, yogurt, and other dairy products.
Not all dairy and eggs are created equal
By now, hopefully you’re convinced about the importance of eggs and dairy as part of a balanced, healthy diet. But there’s one more point I want to make.
Whenever you can, choose organic dairy that comes from pasture-raised, grass-fed and -finished cows.
This is important for a variety of reasons. When nutritional and health arguments against dairy fail, the politically correct turn to the supposed environmental impacts and climate change effects of grazing cattle.
But when cows are raised organically, studies show they contribute to the ecology and health of pastures and grasslands.
As for eggs, look for free-range, organic eggs that come from free-range chickens. Free-range means chickens can roam freely within the yard all the time, with access to coops and roosts (not cages) to lay eggs and seek warmth. (Note that “cage-free” may sound the same, but this term can be used by egg sellers as long as some chickens are allowed to roam outside the confines of their housing facility once in a while—a bit like prison inmates occasionally being allowed out in the yard.)
Indeed, my daughter began keeping a flock of chickens, and people are flocking to buy her organic, free-range eggs! The eggs come out in different sizes and different colors—which is the way her customers like them.
Plus, if you keep the outer membranes intact (meaning you don’t wash the eggs until you’re ready to prepare them), organic, free-range eggs keep well for weeks without being refrigerated.
Overall, cattle and chickens that are given access to open pasture are generally healthier and don’t have to be pumped full of antibiotics and artificial chemicals (which are forbidden under the U.S. organic label anyway). And the finished products are healthier for you, too.
Science shows that organic foods have more nutrients
For years, big food argued that organic produce, meat, eggs, and dairy didn’t have any more nutrients than their conventional counterparts. But that’s because there wasn’t any science proving the opposite.
You see, until recently, less than 5 percent of eggs and dairy came from organically, humanely raised animals. Consequently, dietary studies didn’t differentiate between conventionally and organically produced products.
This is important to know because newer studies have shown that organic dairy products from pasture-raised, grass-fed, contented cows have higher concentrations of disease-fighting omega-3 fatty acids, iron, vitamin E, selenium, and carotenoids.4
Other research shows that eggs from chickens that are pasture-raised, rather than confined in cages, had twice as much vitamin E and a whopping 2.5 times more omega-3s. And they had 38 percent more vitamin A.5
Plus, another study found that free-range chickens produced eggs with three to four times as much vitamin D as the eggs from their caged counterparts.6
The tasty way to fight chronic disease
In conclusion, every balanced diet should contain organic, free-range eggs and organic, pasture-raised, full-fat dairy. I recommend an egg or two a day, along with a helping of dairy in at least one meal a day. (Though personally, I like to add full-fat dairy products to nearly all of my meals.)
These two perfectly nutritious foods are a simple—and delicious—way to boost your immune system, brain function, energy, and muscle mass. And if that weren’t enough, they also help protect you from heart disease, diabetes, obesity, macular degeneration, and osteoporosis.
So the next time some misguided expert tells you to avoid eggs and dairy, show them the science…not the fiction.
How to deal with lactose intolerance
Many people lose the ability to metabolize lactose (the sugar in milk) after infancy. Consequently, they become “lactose intolerant” as adults.
But the solution is not to drink “fake milks” like almond milk, which require more environmental resources to produce than cow’s milk. Instead, if you’re lactose intolerant, opt for other dairy products like cheese and yogurt.
These products contain probiotic bacteria that metabolize the lactose and reduce or eliminate the sugar content—and the associated digestive and metabolic problems, too.
Plus, probiotics in dairy products improve the health of your GI microbiome, and they also naturally preserve cheese and yogurt, without the need for added chemical preservatives.
Sources:
1“A prospective study of egg consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease in men and women.” JAMA 1999;281:1387-94
2“Egg Consumption and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: Findings from Three Large Prospective US Cohort Studies and a Systematic Review and Updated Meta-Analysis,” BMJ, online March 4, 2020.
3“Milk and Health.” N Engl J Med 2020; 382:644-654.
4https://www2.organic-center.org/what-are-benefits-organic-milk-and-dairy-products
5Vitamins A, E and fatty acid composition of the eggs of caged hens and pastured hens.” Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 25(1), 45-54.
6“Free-range farming: a natural alternative to produce vitamin D-enriched eggs.” Nutrition, 2014 Apr;30(4):481-4.