Niki Bezzant: Eggs are eggxactly what you should eat

Eggs, those little protein-packed wonders, are right up there on my list of favourite foods.

I eat them regularly and not many days pass for me without an egg in them. Mostly it's breakfast, but they also feature in my lunches and dinners. That old slogan: "When there's an egg in the house, there's a meal in the house" is still a goodie.

Some people might be surprised to hear that.

There's a continued level of misunderstanding about the healthiness of eggs - people still query how often they're "allowed" to eat them.

Recent Colmar Brunton Research found only 41 per cent of us know healthy people can eat eggs every day. In the older population it's even lower, with just 32 per cent of those over 60 believing it's okay to eat eggs daily.

This belief stems from the old advice - obviously well communicated - that because eggs contain cholesterol they should be limited in order to protect our hearts.

Netflix's What the Health doesn't help. The pro-vegan film revives this myth by seeming to suggest the cholesterol in eggs, among other things, is harmful.

What scientists have known for some time is cholesterol in foods doesn't effect cholesterol in our bodies. There's no association between cholesterol in food and increased risk of heart disease and stroke. So the black mark in many people's minds against eggs can be removed.

Eggs are a great food, nutritionally speaking. They contain useful amounts of protein - the reason why my egg breakfasts keep me satisfied all the way to lunch - and they contain 11 different vitamins and minerals including iron and vitamins A, B and E.

It's good, then, the Ministry of Health has approved a statement from Eggs Incorporated to shed some light: "Eggs are a healthy, natural whole food that the New Zealand Ministry of Health Eating and Activity Guidelines state can be enjoyed by most people every day of the week."

What does "most people" mean?

There are a couple of key exceptions.

For those at increased risk of heart disease (including those with type 2 diabetes) the New Zealand Heart Foundation still recommends no more than six or seven eggs per week.

There's also a group of people - up to 25 per cent of us - who are classed as "hyper-responders", meaning they are particularly susceptible to dietary cholesterol.

For them, the foundation says seeking the advice of a medical professional is the best idea.

But for most of us, eggs can be a fantastic part of our daily diet.

They're incredibly versatile on their own and as an ingredient.

This doesn't quite mean the "big breakfast" is back on the menu, though.

The Heart Foundation warns "care should be taken with the company that eggs keep".

In other words, eat the eggs, but lay off bacon, sausages, refined white bread, butter and salt.

• Niki Bezzant is editor-at-large of Healthy Food Guide.