Egg Yolks Protect Your Brain, Folks

Your brain is one of the most important organs in your body and the food you eat matters because the brain needs plenty of good stuff to function properly.

Maybe you like eggs, maybe you don’t, but if you omit the yolks when you make your omelet, don’t.

Yolks are the nutrient bombs that make eggs so healthy.

When it comes to brain food, egg yolks are packed with fatty acids, B vitamins, and choline, some of the most important nutrients for brain health. 

A single egg contains 112mg of choline, [1] which is around 30% of the daily recommended intake.

A recent study published in the Journal of Functional Foods examined the neuroprotective effects of egg yolks, so let’s see what they discovered.

What’s Important

Egg yolks are rich in phospholipids, types of fat molecules that play important structural and metabolic roles in cells.

These phospholipids account for approximately 50% of egg yolk lipids, and they are an abundant source of choline.

Your brain needs choline to produce acetylcholine, which is a neurotransmitter largely responsible for memory, learning, and other brain and body functions.

Phospholipids are considered as potential natural antioxidants because they contain high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids, however, more research is needed to confirm this.

Some Details

This study aimed to examine the effect of egg yolk extract containing phospholipids on spatial learning and memory of mice with induced memory impairment.

One of the goals was to also assess the relationship between the phospholipids present in eggs and the production of acetylcholine.

The mice were treated with a low, middle, and high dose of the extract, followed by observation during different behavioral tests and lab analysis.

Here’s what the results showed:

The Takeaway

Due to their high nutritional profile, eggs are a great dietary choice.

This study shows that egg yolks are very beneficial for maintaining brain health, so, next time you don’t have to think twice about having them.

If you want an extra brain boost, you can try our Acetylcholine Brain Food supplement designed to promote the production of acetylcholine, for an improved cognitive function.

Resource: Bao, Z.; Zhang, P.; Chen, J.; Gao, J.; Lin, S.; Sun, N. Egg yolk phospholipids reverse scopolamine-induced spatial memory deficits in mice by attenuating cholinergic damage. Journal of Functional Foods 2020, 69, 103948. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2020.103948