Foods that don’t deserve bad reputations, according to dietitians

Health experts say some foods have been wrongly villainized and can be healthier than people think. The list includes coffee, eggs and potatoes.

Eggs, potatoes, coffee: These kitchen staples, among others, have gained bad reputations, nutrition experts say, but don’t necessarily deserve it. In fact, registered dietitians, doctors and nutrition professors are increasingly advising people to eat them.

Nutrition advice is ever changing, which can leave consumers uncertain about which foods are actually healthy. NBC News asked nine health experts about the foods they think have been wrongly villainized. Here are some of the items they listed and the benefits people may miss out on if they forgo them entirely.

Eggs have been demonized for being high in dietary cholesterol, which health experts once believed could contribute to heart disease, said Dr. Maya Vadiveloo, an associate professor of nutrition at the University of Rhode Island.

But updated science has debunked that notion, showing that dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol affect heart health differently.

Eating foods high in saturated fat, such as red meat, fried foods and fatty dairy can increase the type of blood cholesterol that raises one’s risk of heart problems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But consuming things with cholesterol, like eggs and shellfish, has little correlation to high cholesterol in the blood or a risk of heart disease.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/healthy-foods-bad-reputations-coffee-eggs-rcna147196

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