The countries that consume the most eggs in America 0:48
(CNN Spanish) -
Did you know that, on average, each Mexican consumes approximately 20 kilos of eggs per capita each year?
Not for nothing is Mexico the largest consumer of eggs in the world, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
According to the Government of Mexico, the country is the fourth largest egg producer in the world with an annual production of 2.9 million tons.
And the reasons for its large consumption are several.
According to José Antonio Quintana López, academic at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics (FMVZ) of the UNAM, the increase in egg consumption in Mexico increased in the pandemic by 50% between 2019 and 2020, due to its low cost, ease of cooking , flavor and protein content, as read in a newsletter.
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The academic agrees with the FAO that an advantage of the egg is that it can be purchased at a low price, in small quantities and does not need refrigeration.
Also, the egg itself can be a complete meal and if cooked it can last for several weeks.
Eggs - as well as chicken meat - are the best source of quality protein and are "extremely necessary" for the many millions of people living in poverty. And according to the World Food Program (WFP) "a small egg it can make a difference for people who don't have access to other sources of protein. "
Egg protein is one of the best.
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The egg 🥚 can make a difference 🌍 for people who do not have access to other sources of protein.
Eggs are also versatile and last longer than other high-protein foods. ”#Nutrition pic.twitter.com/pmH9blc4xi
- WFP Spanish (@WFP_es) April 26, 2020
At just 72 calories, they say, an egg offers 6.3 grams of high-quality protein and 4.8 grams of fat, along with vitamins A and B-12, riboflavin, folacin, iron, zinc, and phosphorus.
The problem, of course, is the cholesterol level in the yellow yolk of eggs: a large egg can contain about 186 milligrams (mg) of cholesterol, according to the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture.
Nutritional guidelines used to recommend a maximum limit of 300 mg of cholesterol per day.
Currently, the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines from the United States Department of Health suggest limiting calorie intake from saturated fat to less than 10% of total daily calories.
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But don't be afraid of cholesterol.
Produced by the liver, cholesterol is in every cell in the body and is used to make hormones, vitamin D, digestive compounds, and more.
Sometimes a person's body can make too much cholesterol, leading to waxy plaque buildup in blood vessels and later cardiovascular disease.
Cholesterol plays a role in our diet, but it's more complicated than we used to think, said Dr. Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard's TH Chan School of Public Health, who has spent more than 40 years studying the effects of diet on the occurrence of major diseases.
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So how good or bad is eating eggs?
Unfortunately, there is no absolute answer.
However, a large 2020 analysis by Harvard University found that eating one egg per day was not associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
On the other hand, a recent study has found that eating even a daily serving of a whole egg increases the risk of dying from all causes, including cardiovascular disease and cancer.
In fact, the overall risk of death increased by 7% for every additional half a whole egg eaten per day, according to the PLOS Medicine study.
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However, experts were skeptical.
"Despite many years of research, this question about egg consumption and health has not been answered, and there are multiple observational studies in recent decades that show conflicting results: some suggest that moderate egg intake is good, while others suggest it may be bad, "said Riyaz Patel, a consultant cardiologist at University College London.
"This study, while well conducted, unfortunately only adds more noise to the discussion," Patel said in a statement.
The study results are problematic because they only asked people once about their egg consumption, then followed them for many years without checking to see if their diet had changed, Dr. Walter Willett said.
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"The conclusions of this study are exaggerated," said Ada Garcia, Senior Lecturer in Nutrition for Public Health at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, in a statement.
"Blaming eggs alone for an increased risk of cardiovascular disease is a simplistic and reductionist approach to the concept of diet and disease prevention."
For its part, the FAO recently indicated that there is no unequivocal relationship between egg consumption and the risk of cardiovascular disease.
The organization indicated that egg consumption could even have "beneficial effects by increasing cholesterol associated with high-density lipoproteins compared to that associated with low-density lipoproteins."
However, more evidence is needed.
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CNN's Sandee LaMotte contributed to this report.
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