WELLNESS-Research suggests that eating vegetables together with eggs can increase the blood carotenoid level by up to 9 times.
Carotenoids are naturally occurring pigmented molecules that provide the rich red, yellow, and orange colors in vegetables. They are antioxidants and can help stave off certain types of cancer and heart disease as well as optimizing the immune response to fight off infections.
The carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin have been most studied in relationship to the eyes. These two compounds have proven to not only fight eye disease, but also to slow the degradation that occurs to the eye in the aging population. Furthermore, lutein and zeaxanthin may be protective in eye disease because they absorb damaging blue light. In a study published in the Journal of American Medicine, they found that subjects with the highest levels of carotenoids had a 43 percent less chance of developing age-related macular degeneration.
Besides supplements, food sources of carotenoids include fruits and vegetables like carrots, cantaloupe, sweet potato, and kale, with the primary source of lycopene being tomato and tomato products. Egg yolk is another a highly bioavailable source of lutein and zeaxanthin.
A study put on by Purdue University and published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition indicated that when eggs are eaten with carotenoid rich vegetables, the absorption of carotenoid goes up by up to 9 times as much compared to when the vegetables are consumed alone.
There were 16 participants that each ate vegetables alone, veggies with 1.5 eggs and veggies with 3 eggs in 3 separate sittings. What they found was that as they increased the amount of egg included with the salad, the amount of carotenoids in the blood also increased. The study concludes that eating eggs with vegetables increases the antioxidant levels in the blood helping to prevent disease and promote longevity. It’s important to note that the key elements needed to synthesize this process are primarily in the egg yolk and not the white.
(Christian Cristiano is an acupuncturist in LA, TV host of Wellness for Realists and writes on wellness regularly for CityWatch. Christian can be reached at 323.935.3420. twitter: @CristianoWFR)
-cw
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