Farmers left with egg on faces after fatty food fight

WATCHING the egg versus KFC Double Down Sandwich debate unfold last week was like watching a football game in which the guy with the ball has forgot­ten which way to run, and gets tackled by his own team.

In the end, Canada's egg farmers wound up off side.

And three doctors who wanted us to pay more attention to dietary cholesterol wound up vindicating those of us inclined to consume fast-food abomina­tions such as the Double Down -- strips of bacon sandwiched between two breaded chicken breasts loaded with cheese and special sauce. Yum.

We can now argue with authority, after all, that such a sandwich is lower in cholesterol than an egg yolk. Never mind that it has 540 calories, 30 grams of fat and 1,740 of sodium (more than the total rec­ommended daily intake) in a few greasy bites.

It started with three University of Western On­tario cardiologists out to reverse a growing public perception that dietary cholesterol is benign, a per­ception they say is fuelled by a "sustained propa­ganda campaign from the egg producers' lobby."

While eating eggs isn't so bad if you are not at risk of heart disease, the problem is, there are woe­fully few of us in that category these days. "The consequences of high cholesterol intake in those at increased risk of cardiovascular disease who are sedentary and not losing weight -- especially when already consuming relatively high levels of satur­ated fat -- give reason for concern," the study said.

In short, the majority of the population would find limiting consumption of cholesterol-rich foods beneficial.

The original study, published in the November Canadian Journal of Cardiol­ogy, doesn't even mention the Double Down. It com­pared egg yolks to a Har­dee's Monster Thickburger, although it reached the same conclusion. It was the university's communica­tors that pulled in the KFC Double Down, probably because it had more headline-grabbing cachet.

One egg yolk contains about 195 mg choles­terol, five grams of fat and 70 calories. Daily rec­ommended cholesterol intake is around 200 mg.

The Hardee Monster contains 210 mg of choles­terol while the Double Down contains 150 mg.

Out came the headlines: "Eggs far from sunny up, doctors warn," or "Eggs versus the Double Down: Guess who wins?"

Then the spit hit the pan. Egg producers rose to defend the egg's nutritional reputation -- and their livelihoods -- by tackling the medical pro­fessionals.

"With obesity increasing in North America at an alarming rate, medical professionals should be encouraging the consumption of nutrient­dense, low-calorie foods, such as eggs, rather than suggesting that high-fat, fast food is better for health," Bonnie Cohen, a registered dietitian with Egg Farmers of Canada, sputtered in a release.

"Comments made by these same researchers that a popular high-fat, high-calorie sandwich is more nutritious than eggs are quite simply ir­responsible."

For the record, the journal article didn't say the Double Down was more nutritious. What the researchers said was, egg yolks contain more cholesterol.

And they didn't promote the fast-food concoc­tions as healthy.

There is debate in the research community around the relevance of dietary cholesterol. But even if these doctors are dead wrong, egg produ­cers still wouldn't have won this fight.

It comes down to the relative scale of cred­ibility. Egg farmers have a vested interest in convincing people to eat eggs.

If heart doctors were only looking after their own interests, they'd be telling people to eat all the eggs and Double Downs they could stom­ach -- because it might bring more customers through their door.

Had egg producers paused to think this one through a little, they might have realized that they could sit this one out on the sidelines. A scan of the online comments that rolled in after the original story published shows the general public and independent dietitians were quick to pounce on the idiocy of such comparisons.

Egg producers might also have realized that they could have positioned themselves on the same side as the highly credible doctors. They could have seized the opportunity to promote their own Healthy Choices Cholesterol Kit, which is available online and stresses many of the same points the doctors made.

One of Nature's own "fast-foods," eggs -- when consumed in moderation -- are a nifty, low-cal, low-fat nutritional package that complements a healthy lifestyle.

You simply can't make that argument about a Double Down.

That the doctors are questioning egg market­ing campaigns should be cause for sober second thought, not sabre rattling.

Instead, Canada's egg farmers went charging into a box-end canyon from which there was no escape.

When this is written up in the food war chron­icles, the chapter could aptly be called: Custard's Last Stand.

Laura Rance is editor of the Manitoba Co-operator. She can be reached at 792--4382 or by email: laura@fbcpublishing.com.