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HEALTH ADVOCATES ARE CRITICIZING THE MARKETING CLAIMS OF THE NATIONWIDE EGG INDUSTRY… CLAIMS WHICH PROMOTE EGGS AS THE PATH TOWARD A HEALTHY DIET.
They say there's no such thing as a free lunch. Tell that to these folks. Nearly a thousand members of Congress and their staff lined up on Capitol hill last week to make their own omelets, courtesy of America's egg producers.
That's Donald McNamara head of the Egg Nutrition Center. And this omelet reception is just part of the egg industry's $21 million campaign to convince people that eggs are good for you.
Donald McNamara: "Eggs have high quality protein, the highest quality protein at the lowest cost you can buy in the supermarket. They have vitamins, minerals..."
And one of the tricks in Monday's market is: How do you make any product sexy? How do you give it some pizzazz?
Michael Jacobson, Center for Science in the Public Interest: "And I'm sure they didn't talk about cholesterol's contribution to heart disease."
Michael Jacobson founded the Center for Science in the Public Interest 30 years ago, and Monday is considered to be America's unofficial "food cop."
Jacobson: "Eggs are the major source of cholesterol in the American diet. The more cholesterol you consume, the bigger the effect is in terms of promoting heart disease."
The egg industry doesn't want to talk about high cholesterol. In fact, its campaign distracts you from the dangers of cholesterol. For instance: Eggland's Best eggs boast that its hens now lay "nutritionally superior eggs," with "25% less saturated fat than regular eggs."
We weren't convinced. So the I-Team took some of Eggland's Best to a certified laboratory, had the tests run twice, and found Eggland's eggs contained 1.5 grams of saturated fat... the same amount as regular eggs, not 25% less. Eggland stands by its own tests and rejected ours, saying in a statement that "it is not uncommon to see wide variation in results from different laboratories."
But the fact is, eggs have never been a big source of saturated fat, a point the egg industry is happy to concede.
McNamara: "Any reduction is so miniscule it has no impact on the overall dietary pattern."
Then why advertise it? Why say 25% less of something that's not a problem?
Jacobson: "I think they advertise it because that's marketing."
And what about promoting eggs as rich in Omega 3 - fatty acids that are good for your heart, most often found in salmon and other fish?
Jacobson: "There's almost no Omega 3s in eggs compared to salmon... it just ain't much."
In fact, to get the same Omega 3s in this piece of salmon, you'd have to eat a dozen eggs. But by then you'd have your daily limit of cholesterol - eight times over. The label on Land O' Lakes eggs assures consumers that Omega-3 eggs "may lessen the risk of heart disease" and "are a good source of heart-healthy nutrition."
We sent that label to the Food and Drug Administration to ask if it was true. Its response: Egg producers are prohibited from making those health claims specifically because eggs are so high in cholesterol.
The FDA official said they'd look into it for possible enforcement action. Lake O' Lakes says a different federal agency - the USDA - looked at the label and said it was OK. Meanwhile, the egg industry is working to make higher levels of cholesterol acceptable. Jacobson says members of Congress should be personally concerned.
Jacobson: "A lot of those people on Capitol Hill are developing heart disease."
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