How many eggs a day after 60
If you are over 60 and wondering how many eggs a day is safe, Dr. Martin's answer is that he does not count them. In this episode he gives no upper limit, for seniors or for anyone else.
He built the episode around three studies on eggs. The first was Greek, and it looked at eggs and heart disease.
Dr. Martin on the Greek study:
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1041I wonder what would happen if you had one to three eggs every day. One to three eggs a week. According to this Greek study, decreases your risk of heart disease by near 50%.
The study counted eggs by the week. His point was that if a few a week did that much for the heart, he sees no reason to hold anyone back from having them every day.
If your doctor has told you to limit eggs for a specific reason, take this page to that conversation.
Are eggs bad for your cholesterol?
This is the worry that keeps a lot of women over 60 to one egg, or to egg whites.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1041Now, eggs have cholesterol. You can't live without cholesterol. And because you can't live without it, your body makes 85% of your cholesterol. You and I are responsible for about 15%.
Cholesterol, he points out, is only found in the animal kingdom, and he does not treat it as something to drive down. He says there is no such thing as bad cholesterol, and that LDL was made the boogeyman.
He goes further than most. On blood work, he says he is looking for high cholesterol, not low, and he sees eggs as one of the best ways to raise it. His full case is in the whole cholesterol thing is a hoax, and the numbers he reads instead are in what is a normal cholesterol level for a woman over 60.
Eggs and heart disease
His second heart reason is his own, and he says the study did not make it: vitamin K2.
K2 is found only in the animal kingdom, he says, and an egg brings it along with calcium. That pairing matters to him, because calcium belongs in your bones and teeth, not in your blood vessels.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1041Plus, isn't it amazing in nature when God puts calcium with vitamin K2 in perfect harmony with each other because calcium, you don't want calcium to stay in your blood.
In his reading, K2 is the delivery system. It takes calcium out of the blood vessels, where it builds plaque, and drives it into bone. Butter, cheese and meat carry K2 too. He is not against calcium. He just does not like calcium supplements without K2.
"Eggs are like God's perfect food. There's nothing in an egg that's not good for you."
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1041Why he says eat the yolk
He remembers when the advice changed. In the 1960s and 70s, he says, the food industry, the cereal companies most of all, set out to change what North America ate in the morning. Bacon and eggs would give you a heart attack. If you had to have an egg, have the white and skip the yolk, because that is where the cholesterol is.
He agrees the cholesterol is in the yolk. His point is what else is in there: the vitamins, and most of the amino acids. So when he says eat eggs, he means the whole egg.
He also asked himself whether there is a downside.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1041Is there anything negative about eggs? Not that I can think of.
He even held up a blank sheet as his list of the bad things eggs do.
Eggs and your brain after 60
The second study was in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, and it was about choline. Eggs are famous for it. You also get choline from cheese and meat, he says, but not from plants. Your body uses choline to make acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that carries messages between your nerve cells and your brain.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1041In the Journal of Frontiers in Nutrition, it says, when you eat eggs, you are elevating your choline, which elevates your acetylcholine, which decreases your risk of Alzheimer's.
The third study, in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition, tied eating eggs to better memory testing and less depression. He puts that down to the precursors in eggs: choline, and tryptophan, another amino acid, which your body uses to make serotonin, the happy hormone.
His summary was aimed straight at anyone in their sixties and up.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1041And if you want to be a golden oldie, and with your golden years and having your brain, you better eat eggs.
Eggs, insulin and blood sugar
An article he saw compared a big slice of pizza with three or four eggs. The calories came out about the same. Your body's response did not.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1041See folks, it's not calories in and calories out. It's not calories in and calories out. The big factor is how much insulin food produces.
Pizza crust is bread, and bread turns to sugar fast, so it calls for a lot of insulin. An egg barely asks for any. He pictures your pancreas taking a break.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1041When you eat an egg, your pancreas goes, oh, what are you doing? I'm on a coffee break.
That matters after 60 because of what most breakfasts look like. Cereal, toast, oatmeal. He blames the cereal aisle for teaching North America to start the day on carbs, and he ties it straight back to the heart.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1041Metabolic health is heart health. Metabolic health is brain health.
If your breakfast is still cereal or toast, the best breakfast for energy after 60 walks through what he would put on the plate instead.
Are eggs worth the price?
He opened the episode in the grocery store, shocked at the price of eggs, and worried it would put people off them.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1041I know they're expensive guys, but they're a complete food. They're so good for you.
His answer was that eggs are worth the investment once you understand what is in one. He wore a yellow shirt in honor of eggs for this episode, which is about as clear as his position gets.
Common questions
How many eggs a day should a senior eat?
Dr. Martin sets no daily limit. A Greek study he read tied one to three eggs a week to close to half the risk of heart disease, and he wondered aloud what one to three a day would do.
Are eggs bad for seniors with high cholesterol?
Not in his view. He says your body makes about 85% of your cholesterol and that there is no such thing as bad cholesterol. If your doctor has told you to limit eggs, talk it through with them.
Should older adults eat the egg yolk?
Yes. He agrees the cholesterol is in the yolk, and says that is where the vitamins and most of the amino acids are too.
Are eggs good for memory in older adults?
He says yes. Eggs carry choline, which your brain uses to make acetylcholine, and a study he read linked that to a lower risk of Alzheimer's.
For the insulin side of your blood work
Eggs keep your insulin quiet. Martin Clinic's Blood Sugar Support Formula is the one he built for the sugar side of the panel.
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