How many eggs are too many eggs?

April 22, 2017 2:14 PM

What should be the limit on egg consumption by my two highly energetic and active sons, aged 8 and 11? It's just that our chooks prodce more than we can possibly eat, so from a dietary/nutrition basis, should there be any limit on their consumption, daily or weekly?
posted by wilful to Health & Fitness (13 answers total)

Excluding ridiculousness like a strict egg-only diet, there's really no harm in eating as many eggs as they like. Eggs are a great source of protein and fat, also they are delicious.
posted by so fucking future at 2:27 PM on April 22, 2017 [11 favorites]

I dunno, maybe make sure less than 35% of daily calories are eggs on most days. Eggs are great. We've been domestically producing and eating them for five thousand years for good reason.
Obviously the American Egg Board has a strong conflict of interest on the topic, but they do provide some good info and interesting historical tidbits here.
TheHarvard school of public health takes a more moderated approach, but still doesn't come out and give any hard limits. They point out that dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol are only very weakly linked. (Nb. ignore their safe handling instructions, unless you are power washing and immediately refrigerating your eggs.)
posted by SaltySalticid at 2:39 PM on April 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

Anecdotally—Emma Morano, the former world's oldest person who died recently at the age of 117, claimed that she ate three eggs a day for most of her life.
posted by XMLicious at 4:19 PM on April 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Also anecdotally, here's an article from the New England Journal of Medicine (March 28, 1991) about an 88 year old man who had been eating 20 to 30 eggs per day for at least 15 years. His general health was excellent, cholesterol levels normal.
posted by metadave at 5:53 AM on April 23, 2017

The official line on this is that eggs themselves are not to be worried about, but that the overall comsumption of animal proteins should be limited to 25-30 oz per week (for the ages you asked about), which if eggs were the only animal protein you were eating, would be 16-20 medium eggs per day. So I think the answer may depend on what else you and they are eating.
posted by thegears at 5:59 AM on April 23, 2017 [4 favorites]

Marion Nestle notes that in one recent study showing no link between eggs and increased cholesterol, 90% of the subjects were on statins, which decrease cholesterol, so I'd be very careful about studies that claim no harm. One egg has almost the total amount of recommended cholesterol for adults for one day. I can't figure out how to link to Nestle's article on my iPad, but it will come up if you google conflict of interest egg board.
posted by FencingGal at 7:42 AM on April 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

My only concern would be that they'd get really tired of eggs.
posted by theora55 at 9:49 AM on April 23, 2017

Some people are genetic outliers. Jeanne Calment, the woman with the oldest verified life span, smoked cigarettes from the age of 21 until she was 117. She died at 122. That doesn't mean smoking won't harm you. I wouldn't base any decisions on the actions of one or two people who have lived a long time.
posted by FencingGal at 9:55 AM on April 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

Anecdotal: on an episode of Simply Ming, Jacques Pepin talked about how when he was a kid, his mother fed them lots of eggs as cheap protein. (then he and Ming proceeded to make the most delicious-looking deviled eggs ever). I don't remember if he commented on whether this was common or not among French families. This will probably only sway you if you love Jacques Pepin.
posted by pepper bird at 11:06 AM on April 23, 2017

The egg white is almost perfect protein. Typical humans (those lacking weird genetic defects) can use about 98% of egg protein. It is an excellent source of protein for growing kids putting on muscle. I intentionally fed egg whites to one son for a while to support his muscle development. Historically, weight lifters consumed raw eggs to support building muscle, back before we had a jillion supplements for that purpose.

If there is going to be an issue, it is more likely to be with the yolk. If high cholesterol runs in the family, you might want to limit yolk consumption. If sulfur allergies run in the family, ditto.

Sulfur issues run in my family. I need to limit yolk consumption for that reason. Growing children typically need more cholesterol and other fats than adults do. They play an important role in brain development. Barring a problem with cholesterol for some reason, children can eat more of such foods than adults without ill effect. In other words, what might turn your stomach might go over just fine with them because they have different nutritional needs from healthy, fully developed adults.

If it were me, I would feed them all the eggs they wanted and cut back when they began expressing their contempt for egg dishes. We have a want center. When people have had too much of a thing, their body tends to tell them that by being all "Ugh, not THIS again!"
posted by Michele in California at 1:10 PM on April 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'd say it's ok to let them eat as many eggs as they like. Just don't be surprised when they're grown and they're roughly the size of a barge.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 7:16 PM on April 23, 2017 [11 favorites]

For growing young boys, who are energetic and active? I would be tempted to say no upper limit, but if you want a figure, three eggs per meal max, and maybe a dessert egg.
posted by turbid dahlia at 10:28 PM on April 23, 2017

(I would like to note that Mr Encyclopedia is not in fact warning you that eggs will make your child fat, which would be related to discussing the ungroundedness of many medical studies, but merely making a clever reference.)
posted by aimedwander at 7:39 AM on April 24, 2017