How the egg came to be India Today's choice of cover story
Most people are very interested in knowing what's good for them to eat. As medical science and research progresses, new findings keep emerging, making it quite confusing for the layperson. For me, one of the most debated issues is the benefits or otherwise of that wonderful food - the egg. When I was young, having an egg for breakfast was de rigueur. No questions asked.
As I grew up, it came to be known as the generator of cholesterol which in excess can lead to heart disease. Much to my regret for the last 20 years I have virtually stopped eating eggs and on the rare occasion that I do, it is only the whites.
Naturally, I was overjoyed when executive editor Damayanti Datta, who has spent over a decade tracking health trends for India Today, suggested a story on how eggs are now good for us. She quotes from the ongoing Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) Study across five continents, covering 150,000 respondents, of which 29,298 are in India. The findings of the study, published in the reputed Lancet, conclude that an egg a day has no link with heart disease.
From being blacklisted by doctors for the last 50 years, the egg is now being considered a must in all diets. Since 2003, a team of 56 investigators working on the PURE study have found diets high in carbohydrates -rather than fats - are the real threat.
So eggs, rich in natural fat and cholesterol, are no longer the villain of the piece. Using that as the springboard, Datta did extensive research to show how a high cholesterol diet which includes a daily egg does not raise the risk of heart disease, even in those genetically predisposed to it. Apparently, the hidden killer is sugar, which has increased in our diet. When the American Heart Association and USDA cut down on dietary fat from the 1960s, the food industry responded by going "low-fat", but what was hidden behind their labels were, typically, artificial sweeteners, processed food high in carbs (which turn into glucose in the body), sugar, salt, unsaturated and hydrogenated oils.
Researchers from the University of San Francisco showed last year how in the 1960s the sugar lobby paid scientists to study heart disease, overlooking the role of sugar and promoting dietary fat as the problem.
The story looks at how culture shapes what we eat but also how changing agricultural and animal husbandry patterns caused by the Green Revolution and White Revolution meant more wheat, rice and dairy on our dining tables and fewer nutrient-rich vegetables and fruit. It also looks at the impact of the egg-is-bad bogey on the massive midday meal scheme in India, which feeds 100 million children every day.
Nineteen of the 29 states have not incorporated the much-needed egg in the scheme, either because of a misplaced emphasis on vegetarianism or a belief that eggs are not healthy.
But such is the egg's reversal of fortune now that even the yolk has been declared an essential rich source of protein. As a result of hours spent on the story, Datta says she finally understood what was wrong with her diet and has now transformed it.
My own view on the debate? Eat a balanced diet with everything in moderation, avoid faddish foods and exercise regimes. And yes, don't go eating 10 eggs a day after reading our cover story. You never know what the next piece of research is going to say!
(India Today Editor-in-Chief's note for cover story, Sunny Side Up; November 20, 2017.)