I grew up at a time when a healthy diet meant three squares a day, when we ate with gusto and unconcerned indulgence. The blind indulgences included eggs, every which way you can – fried, boiled, soft-boiled, salted, scrambled, sunny-side-up, omelets, flans, or raw on rice or straight down the gullet; later on, deviled, eggnogs, eggs-Benedict, custards, and a gazillion of egg-rich pastries and culinary delights. Then science and medicine sneaked into the kitchen and dining table, said "uh-uh," came up with the food Pyramid, introduced cholesterol into public awareness, warned of the terrors of lipid-laden plaque-inducing foods, and put cholesterol-rich eggs on the No-No list. The number was compelling – 213 mg of cholesterol in a single yolk! For some, it exceeded the prescribed limits; for many, it didn't leave much room for anything else laced with cholesterol after breakfast. The cholesterol scare spawned an anti-yolk killer-egg industry – egg substitues (ugh!) and all-white omelets (uugghh!!). As a physician, I preached a convincing anti-yolk spiel, connecting the dots of cholesterol, heart attacks, and strokes; while I would occasionally sneak into a two-egg indulgence, once a month or two, dipping slivers of bread into that forbidden mound of yolk – yes! living dangerously; and suicidally, I thought, when I would make a plateful or two of custard disappear before my eyes. And when I would make a six-egg-five-white-one-yolk omelet, I'd eat it with a sense of disciplined superiority and resignation, suffering the taste for the sake of health, and then, watch the kitchen staff, beneficiary of my fears, whip up a rural yolky delight, envying their youth and their arteries, as they indulge in cholesterol overload with my throw-away yolk.

That was then. Science taketh away, science giveth back. The egg has made a comeback. Outdated notions on the yolk have been nullified. Studies have pecked away at the bad and the ugly. What remains is the good egg.

Nutritional Info
• A large egg represents less than 4% of a day's 2000 caloric intake, 10% of the daily recommenday protein. It is rich in choline (300 micrograms) and also contains iron, folate, B6, vitamins A, D, E, selenium, monosaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Of the 5 gm of fat in one egg, only 1.5 gm is saturated fat.
• The yolk makes up about 34% of the liquid weight. The albumin, the thick translucent liquid surrounding the yolk, becoming the egg white when cooked, accounts for 2/3 of the liquid weight and 57% of the egg protein.
For the longest time, average egg yolk has been tagged to contain an average 213 mg of cholesterol. A recent study reports a cholesterol level 14% level lower – 186 mg per egg.
• For healthy individuals, the recommendation for daily cholesterol intake is less than 300 mg a day. For patients with diabetes, heart disease or high LDL cholesterol, dietary cholesterol is advised is advised at 200/mg a day or less.
• So, according to the cholesterol credo with recommendations of restriction of intake to 200-300 mg, even at 186 mg/ egg, a single egg serves up a significant part of the amount of daily cholesterol allowed.
• However, there is little, if any, correlation between dietary and blood cholesterol levels. Recent studies have shown dietary cholesterol do not significantly contribute to blood cholesterol levels and cardiovascular risk.
• One study showed no harm with 2 eggs daily in healthy adults; another showed no harm in two eggs daily in adults with high cholesterol.
• Recent studies also suggest that it is the saturated fats, more than the bad cholesterol, that increase the risk for heart disease – and the egg, although relatively high in cholesterol, is very low in saturated fat.

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