Novelist Fay Weldon’s famous advertising slogan for eggs back in the last century is being revised again.

Despite worries about cholestrol, nutritionists are now saying that eggs are one of the most nutrient-dense foods and are suggesting we need one a day for optimum health.

The study, which has been released today and will be published in June in the science journal Nutrition and Food Science, analyzed 71 research papers and documents about eggs.

Eggs are low in calories and a rich source of protein. They contain nutrients essential to good health, like vitamin D, vitamin B12, selenium and choline. They have the richest mix of essential amino acids of any other food.

Antioxidants in eggs could help prevent age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness, especially in the elderly.

Dietician, Dr Carrie Ruxton, said: “The health benefits of eggs would appear to be so great that it’s perhaps no exaggeration to call them a superfood — they are one of the most nutrient-dense foods available. Eggs are not only low in calories but are packed with nutrients that are essential to healthy living. They are an ideal food at every stage of life, as well as being easy to cook and enjoyable to eat.”

Eggs are an important dietary source of vitamin D. One egg provides more than 20 percent of the recommended daily allowance. Low levels of the vitamin have been linked with medical conditions, including poor bone health, cancer, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, immune disorders and mental health problems.

Dr Ruxton said, “There are clear nutritional benefits to eating eggs on a regular basis. Emerging evidence suggests that eggs may be beneficial for satiety, weight control and eye health. With previous limits on egg consumption lifted, most people would benefit from a return to the days of going to work on an egg.”

The work was funded by the British Egg Industry Council.

Broccoli is the latest vegetable being hailed as a “super food”, as scientists have announced it contains substantial amounts of the chemical sulforaphane, which helps the body keep the arteries clear so that a healthy flow of blood is maintained.

Although researchers have yet to prove whether simply eating larger amounts of broccoli is enough to make a difference, their findings add to the notion that fresh vegetables form an essential part of our daily diet if we are to maintain and improve our health, which is the principle behind the Government’s “Five a Day” campaign.

The research into the use of sulforaphane was funded by the British Heart Foundation, and it is hoped that it will lead to further breakthroughs in reducing or preventing heart disease.

Green vegetables, and in particular broccoli, have long been recognised for their health benefits. Being rich in antioxidants, they are beneficial for the skin and may even reduce the risk of certain cancers. The chlorophyll in green vegetables promotes healthy red blood cells, and nutritionists claim that eating greens can help maintain healthy blood pressure, prevent strokes and have a positive impact on the eyes and brain.

From an early age most people are trained to enjoy bland, processed food that is high in salt and sugar. When you look at the hundreds of ready meals on our supermarket shelves, it’s no wonder that people often complain that they can’t tolerate the natural flavours of certain fruit and vegetables. Often broccoli is criticised for being bitter tasting or too “strong” but we’re constantly bombarded with scientific support for the benefits of fruit and vegetables, so perhaps it’s time to re-train our palates and make some positive changes.

One approach is to change the proportion of meat and vegetables we have on our plates. Piling the plate with two thirds vegetables to one third meat is an easy principle to follow that will probably increase your intake of vegetables.

Taking care to present food attractively and to use a variety of cooking methods, including sometimes serving up raw vegetables, will maintain your family’s interest as well as avert boredom with what’s on the plate. Using vegetables to create a simple soup starter is also useful strategy, and you can hide less popular veggies easily in soups or sauces that are dominated by the delicious flavours of herbs and spices.

Planning and preparation are key in ditching convenience foods and eating a fresh, healthy diet. Freezing is not detrimental to the nutritional value of food, and therefore making and storing extra portions for use at busy times is a wise move that can help stop you reaching for the take-away menu or filling up on junk food.

See also Broccoli – the unloved superfood.

Rhian Gibbings

In the current economic downturn, employers are more wary of sickness rates than ever and even school effectiveness is, in part, measured by the rates of absence amongst pupils.

With the current swine flu scare, which has been heightened by media reports that the disease cannot be treated with antibiotics, and with coughs, colds and winter bugs appearing more severe year on year, it seems increasingly important for us to take good care of our immune systems. We really need the natural defences necessary to avoid getting sick.

Research shows that a healthy diet helps maintain and boost the immune system. But even fruit and vegetables are not as good for us as they used to be! A revealing study by the University of Texas showed a marked decline in the nutrient content in fruit and vegetables over a period from 1950 to 1999.

Modern farming methods are thought to be to blame, with nutrient content being sacrificed for the faster growth rate of newer varieties of fruits and vegetables.

While the Government can claim the credit for investing in the “Five a Day” campaign to promote the consumption of five portions of fruit and vegetables daily for the associated health benefits, there is still the issue of the large list of artificial additives that are present in most of our everyday foodstuffs.

Many of these additives, known as E numbers, are present in the products we purchase from our local supermarkets as a matter of routine. Scientific research has shown artificial additives are allergens and toxins which can potentially weaken the immune system. As a result a great many of them are banned in other countries while they are still allowed in the UK.

Furthermore, we mustn’t forget about the real risk that officials will clamp down on the sales of natural remedies and supplements, perhaps forcing the public into a corner where choice is limited. Perhaps they think we will turn to the controversial solution of mass vaccination in an effort to safeguard our health.

If you look beyond the media hype, swine flu possibly poses less of a risk to the whole population than we’ve been led to believe. It could be more useful to turn our concerns to what’s in our food, where it comes from and who says it’s safe to eat.

It amounts to what sensible people have been saying for years: if we really want to keep ourselves out of the doctor’s surgery with minor ailments, there is a strong case for eating locally produced, seasonal, organic food, brushing up on our cooking skills rather than relying on pre-packed convenience foods, whatever the latest publicly-funded report has to say.

In a counter-intuitive article in the New York Times, which quotes researchers in Germany and Boston, exercise and antioxidants don’t mix. “If you exercise to improve your metabolism and prevent diabetes, you may want to avoid antioxidants like vitamins C and E.”

Dr. Michael Ristow, a nutritionist at the University of Jena in Germany, said, “If you exercise to promote health, you shouldn’t take large amounts of antioxidants. … antioxidants in general cause certain effects that inhibit otherwise positive effects of exercise, dieting and other interventions.”

It seems that exercise encourages muscle cells to metabolize glucose by combining carbon atoms with oxygen. In the process, highly reactive oxygen molecules are released which then attack various parts of the body damaging the tissues.

The Jena team found that in the group taking antioxidant vitamins, like vitamins C and E, there was no improvement in insulin sensitivity and almost no activation of the body’s natural defence mechanism against oxidative damage.

Once again, what we thought was done and dusted has been called into question by more research.

However, the advice does not apply to fruits and vegetables, Ristow said, even though they are high in antioxidants, it may be that other substances they contain outweigh any negative effect.

Andrew Shao of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a trade association of dietary supplement makers, said, “I wouldn’t change recommendations for anyone based on one study. This is one small piece of the puzzle.”

The amount of oxidative damage increases with age, and according to one theory of aging it is a major cause of the body’s decline.

The findings appear in this week’s issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

John Evans