Latest / Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson / The Egg: From Villain to Victory

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The Egg: From Villain to Victory · Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson

• 0:04
  >> Dr. Terry Simpson: Today, we're talking about the egg.
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  Once demonized, now celebrated, and
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  currently so expensive you might need a loan to make an
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  omelet. Let's break it down. Why did the egg
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  get canceled? How did it make a comeback? And why
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  are we all suddenly paying luxury taxes for
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  breakfast? M.
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  I am your Chief Medical Explanationist, Dr. Terri Simpson,
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  and this is Fork U Fork
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  University, where we make sense of the madness, bust
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  a few myths, and teach you a little bit about food and
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  its intersection with medicine.
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  Picture it. 1968,
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  the Beatles are topping the charts, man is about to
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  land on the moon, and the American Heart association
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  is dropping a bombshell. Eggs, they
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  say, are trying to kill us. They declared that
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  dietary cholesterol was a heart attack waiting to
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  happen, and told everyone to eat fewer than three
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  eggs a week. Three eggs a week? That's not
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  enough for a proper brunch. But here's the kicker.
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  That decision was not
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  driven by physicians or medical
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  evidence or some new groundbreaking
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  study. Nope. This was a classic of,
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  well, we really don't know how to
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  decrease the risk of heart disease in this country,
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  but cutting cholesterol might help, so let's just roll with
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  was a precautionary principal move, basically
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  meaning they were saying, we don't have proof
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  this will work, but sounds logical, so let's ban eggs
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  anyway. There weren't any randomized control
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  trials. There was no solid clinical data,
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  just an assumption wrapped in a dietary
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  guideline. Meanwhile, real
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  scientists, those annoying people who actually study
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  this stuff, had known since 1950
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  because they had tested it. Dietary
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  cholesterol had minimal impact on
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  blood cholesterol. Saturated fat had a
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  huge impact. Dietary cholesterol, not so
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  much. But did the policymakers listen?
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  Nope. Instead, we got decades of
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  people swapping eggs for cereal and
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  margarine, which, fun fact, turned out to
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  be worse for heart health.
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  Well played. So
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  let's follow the money. Who really wrote
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  those guidelines? Because if you thought they were
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  written by a group of independent scientists
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  sitting in a lab analyzing data, I have
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  some bad news for you. The truth is,
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  dietary guidelines are heavily influenced by
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  industry. The food industry, which incorporates
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  the agricultural industry, the processed food
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  companies. They all have a seat at the table.
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  Why? First of all, they're the experts
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  in the field. But these guidelines
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  shape what's in school lunches, hospital meals,
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  military rations, and what is pushed in public
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  health campaigns. And when billions of dollars
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  are on the line, you can better believe it, that
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  industry wants a say in what's healthy.
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  That's why for decades, we got a food pyramid that, that
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  told us to eat six to 11 servings of bread, pasta
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  and cereal a day. That was brought to you by the
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  grain industry because the grain industry
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  had way too much excess grain based on the
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  agricultural policies started during the Nixon administration
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  because they could demonize fat. Low
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  fat processed foods were the hot new
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  product. And it's why eggs,
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  unprocessed at that time, inexpensive,
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  nutritionally dense food was, was literally thrown under
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  the bus. I mean, they were. Seriously, they had ads where
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  they threw eggs under a bus while cholesterol free
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  cookies and sugary cereals got a pass.
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  That makes no sense, does it? So
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  when eggs got this bad for your heart label,
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  it wasn't just because of misunderstood
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  science. It was because processed food
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  companies saw the opportunity to push
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  alternatives like egg beaters.
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  Cholesterol free margin, and all of that heart
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  healthy, low fat junk food
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  flooded the market. The worst part, the
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  public believed it. But we
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  wouldn't be fitting our Star wars theme if we didn't say
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  science strikes back. So after
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  the 1968 egg panic, egg farmers found
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  themselves in the middle of a PR nightmare. If
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  they defended eggs, they'd be accused of prioritizing
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  profits over public health. If they stayed
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  quiet, eggs would go the way of the
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  dinosaurs. Or maybe the way of canned
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  asparagus. But science wasn't
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  on the American Heart Association's side. The
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  egg industry backed real research, which found
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  shockingly, eating an egg does not
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  instantly clog your arteries like stuffing butter into a
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  straw. But did that matter?
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  Nope. By the 1980s, the
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  low cholesterol craze was in its full
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  swing. People were buying cholesterol free
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  peanut butter because, you know, peanut butter
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  was such a notorious source of cholesterol before.
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  Meanwhile, eggs got the reputation of being worse than junk
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  food. It was better in their minds to eat a Pop
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  Tart for breakfast, but not an egg. Can you believe
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  this nonsense? Finally, we get the great
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  egg redemption. I'm not sure what Star wars
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  theme we're on here, but let's Fast forward to 2015.
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  After five decades of, uh, scaring
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  people away from eggs, nutrition
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  experts said, you know, that's
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  just not right. That policy you guys made in
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  the American Heart association, that wasn't right.
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  Because we've known that dietary cholesterol does
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  not significantly impact blood cholesterol levels except in a few
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  people. And we know you can eat eggs without
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  becoming a walking heart attack. Oh,
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  and we've known this since 2 1/2
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  decades before you made that spurious claim.
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  And here is where it all gets really Crazy.
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  When these policymakers actually finally got
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  convinced by the research to look at the actual evidence,
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  they found out that eggs weren't bad for you, they were
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  actually great for you. It's a high quality
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  protein. It contains choline for brain health.
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  It has great nutrients for your eyes. Eggs are
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  basically nature's multivitamin, except
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  tastier and cheaper than things in
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  the health food store. Well, that used to be
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  cheaper. So the 2015
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  Dietary Guidelines finally lifted the egg
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  restriction. But let's be real, this should have happened
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  decades earlier. Or to be even more exact, they
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  should have never banned eggs in the first place. In
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  fact, the United States was one of the last countries
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  to drop its dietary cholesterol restrictions.
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  Taking 47 years to reverse an idea
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  that wasn't based on strong science in the first
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  place. That's almost half the century
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  of unnecessary egg guilt.
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  Imagine how many sad eggless
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  breakfasts that adds up to. The
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  egg's new enemy now is a virus.
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  Just when eggs were making their comeback,
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  along comes the new generation of
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  bird flu. Millions of hens had to be
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  culled, destroyed, and suddenly eggs
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  are more expensive than gasoline. At some stores, they're
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  basically locked up like high end electronics.
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  Meanwhile, oat milk soy based egg
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  substitutes are cackling in the background, waiting for their
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  moment to shine. I mean, I actually like oat milk and soy milk,
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  but you know, but none of those replaces
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  the egg. Scrambled, fried, poached, deviled, in
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  a cake, in a quiche, doing it with flaxseed,
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  whatever. But even if eggs are pricey now, they are
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  still one of the most nutritious and versatile foods you can get. So
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  yes, eggs are back. Of course, now they're a luxury
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  item. I mean, eggs are expensive as caviar, which is
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  basically a fish egg.
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  Here's what we have learned today, which I hope you
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  have. Public policy about
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  food is not the same as science
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  about food. Whole eggs are bad
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  for you was just bad policy
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  made by people making policy without
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  any basis of evidence at all. But with
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  this oh, we better be safe than sorry approach
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  mixed with industry influence, eggs have always
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  been nutritional powerhouses. And just when you're
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  finally allowed to enjoy an egg guilt free, they
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  are too expensive to eat. Life's kind of
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  unfair like that. But don't let history or high
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  prices scare you away. Eggs are still one of the
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  better foods out there. They deserve a place on your plate. Meanwhile, if
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  you want to learn more about food science
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  without the nonsense, give me a subscription here to
• 8:40
  fork you. Because eating smart is always in
• 8:42
  style. Unlike that cholesterol free peanut butter
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  fad. Let's make a couple of other things
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  clear. When you hear food policy, please don't blame the
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  scientists or the doctors. We didn't do that. We
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  didn't tell you to eat trans fats. Honestly, we
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  didn't. We've been going against that. But that's for
• 8:59
  another episode. This
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  episode was written and researched by me, Dr. Terri
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  Simpson. And while I am a doctor, I am not
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  your doctor. And making any dietary changes, please see
• 9:10
  a western trained physician or registered
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  dietitian. Do check out my blog
• 9:15
  post on YourDoctorsOrders.com
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  and check out my new substack at Ah,
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  Tsimpson substack,
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  where I have for our, uh, subscribing members great ways that
• 9:26
  you can interact with me. I want to thank
• 9:29
  our friends at Simpler Media for the distribution and making
• 9:32
  me sound awesome. And especially my good
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  friend, the pod God, Mr.
• 9:37
  Evotera. Have a good
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  week, everyone. In fact, have an egg
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  cellent.
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  Hey, Ivo, here's the dirty little secret.
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  I'm not a big fan of eggs. I mean, they're
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  okay. They're like something I put on. Something
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  like huevos rancheros. Wouldn't be anything without the
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  huevos. But I prefer the rancheros. Most
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  eggs are kind of bland to me. I like hot sauce on
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  eggs. All right, how about you? Are you an egg
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  fan?
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  I'm, um, still not talking to you after that egg pun.