Eggs!

Originally published April 2022

Two holidays my family celebrates this month are Easter and Passover. These two events have almost nothing in common, but do share one important and seasonal symbol: the egg. Both holidays feature eggs in their rituals, and in their symbology. Eggs are central to both.

Eggs are commonly associated with spring and spring holidays because they represent birth and renewal, and the rebirth part of the cycle of life. For obvious reasons, pregnancy is also associated with birth and renewal. And eggs have also had a longstanding and special relationship with pregnancy.

Obviously, getting pregnant in the first place involves an egg. Eggs and sperm meet and fertilisation occurs, which might happen in the body, or might happen in a fertility clinic, but either way the result is the potential for life. Cells divide and miraculously become an embryo. The ova, or human egg, is the raw material from which human life can emerge.

This may or may not have anything to do with the many, many rituals, superstitions, and folklore beliefs about eggs and pregnancy that span the globe and inform a wide range of cultural beliefs. It is bizarrely common for different communities to have cautions or rituals around the handling or consumption of eggs during pregnancy. 

One widely-held tradition proposes that if a pregnant person finds a double yolk in their morning egg, this means they will have twins. Another cultural belief is that one should avoid eating eggs while pregnant, or else the baby will have a nasty body odour. 

One regional practice is that people should eat a raw egg just before giving birth to lubricate the birth canal. Another is that choosing eggs with an eye to the hue of their shell will influence the baby’s skin complexion. Yet another is that wearing an eggshell on a string around the neck (like a necklace) will keep the baby safe.

Some places believe that placing an egg in a sash the right way will give the baby dimples. Others believe that if the pregnant person rubs an egg and then breaks it in a bowl, the presence of webbing means someone is wishing ill for the baby.

My grandmother once told me that her mother had warned her not to crack eggs during the first trimester of pregnancy, but I’m not sure if the belief was that this would somehow harm the baby, or harm the eggs. I think there’s a similar superstition about not cracking eggs during menstruation, so it is also possible she was mixing up the two.

High school health classes used to hand out eggs to represent babies, requiring the students to nurture the eggs in preparation for parenthood (or possibly to caution against teen pregnancy). Some programs expected students to wake up during the night to pretend to feed the eggs; some expected students to carry the eggs everywhere they went; others simply advised students not to break them. The eggs were meant as a stand-in for babies but are also symbolically associated with pregnancy and fertility, which might explain the popularity of this widespread but arguably useless and bizarre school activity.

Another egg ritual with which we are familiar involves all the warnings about their proper handling and eating during pregnancy. Many of us have experienced first-hand the myriad cautions around egg consumption while gestating. Soft or lightly cooked eggs are widely feared as a potential source of contamination. This warning is aimed almost exclusively at pregnant people, to the point that many fear eating eggs – or anything that might contain eggs – at all. 

One concern is that raw or runny eggs can cause food poisoning. Adhering to this warning, pregnant people often avoid mayonnaise, poached eggs, caesar salad, hollandaise sauce, or anything associated with soft yolks. Only eggs boiled to rock hardness will do. Some people go a step further, and avoid all eggs for fear of an accidental encounter with one that’s secretly soft.

This fear has been inflated, especially towards pregnant people, to the extent that it has now achieved its own level of superstition. Even though salmonella poisoning from vegetables outnumbers incidents from eggs roughly 8 to 1, no one gets told to avoid spinach or apples while pregnant. Nutritionist Lily Nichols RDN, CDE reports that only 2% of all food poisoning cases in the U.S. are caused by eggs. In her book “Real Food for Pregnancy” (2018), she further explains:

The odds that an egg contains salmonella are estimated to be between 1 in 12,000 to 1 in 30,000. In other words, very rare. These odds are 7-fold lower in eggs from organic farms or pasture-raised chickens (57).

Salmonella from eggs is rare to begin with, but in regions (such as here in BC, Canada) where all commercially sold eggs are washed, it is extremely unlikely. Washing egg shells effectively removes the bacteria that can spread salmonella. Since salmonella is found on the shells–only infecting the egg once cracked–washing the shells is a reliable safety measure. If concerned, you can always wash your eggs again at home. 

It is also worth noting that even though salmonella is unpleasant, awful, and can be serious, it doesn’t usually pose any heightened risk during pregnancy. It is exceedingly rare for salmonella to cross the placenta. In most cases, the pregnant person is subject to the extreme discomforts of food poisoning, but the baby remains unaffected.

The fact that eggs, especially runny eggs, always make the top 5 list of things to avoid during pregnancy is not well supported by the numbers. The danger of food poisoning from eggs during pregnancy has been overstated again and again, paving the way for an actual danger: nutrient deficiency.

Another thing about eggs you may have heard is that they are dense in nutrients. This is true. After all, they are meant to nourish and sustain a developing chick during its entire gestation, from conception to hatching. Eggs are packed with protein, folate, iron, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamins B5, B2, B12, DHA, selenium, lutein, zeaxanthin, and phosphorous. They are high in the good fats, the ones that aid in vitamin absorption and are required for foetal brain development. And they are also high in choline, which has recently been added to the essential nutrients list for pregnancy.

Choline is similar to folate in that it is vital for proper foetal neurological development. Like folate, choline lowers the risk of neural tube defects. The recommended daily dose is somewhere between 1000 - 1200 mg/day. But because awareness of choline is fairly new, it is absent or under-represented in most prenatal vitamins. The best dietary food sources of choline are liver and, you guessed it, eggs. Particularly the yolks, which actually contain the majority of all of the egg nutrients.

Eggs are so salubrious, and such a perfect little vehicle for so many vital pregnancy nutrients, that limiting their consumption for fear of food poisoning is rarely beneficial. It increases the very real likelihood of nutrient deficiencies, in deference to a very small and unlikely risk of food poisoning. The risks to the baby of avoiding or limiting eggs during pregnancy seem to outweigh any benefits of cautiousness.

As mentioned, pasture raised chickens are even less likely to have salmonella. As Lily Nichols explains:

This is likely due to the chickens being raised outside of a confined barn and having a more varied diet, both of which protect against the spread of disease. Even eggs from conventional farms are very unlikely to contain salmonella…so put the worries to rest and know that the nutritional benefits of eating eggs–with the yolks–are worth making them a regular part of your diet (32).

Eggs from pasture raised chickens are also more nutritious, out-performing their conventionally farmed counterparts in almost all vitamins and minerals. Pasture raised chicken eggs have about 5 times the vitamin D, twice the DHA, are higher in antioxidants, vitamin E, and almost everything else. They are one of the most nutritious foods on the planet. 

Pregnancy myths involving eggs are abundant and span the globe. I would propose that the hyper-caution surrounding egg consumption during pregnancy is in that same category. There may be a small value in giving a nod to caution on occasion (maybe wash eggs from an unknown source if you are planning to eat them very soft), but generally our attitude towards pregnancy and eggs is steeped in more myth than fact. Eggs are extremely healthy, and can be confidently welcomed and enjoyed in your prenatal diet.

This spring, whether you decorate eggs for Easter, display one for Passover, eat chocolate eggs, or include them in your spring celebrations in any other way, go ahead and enjoy the eggs–especially pasture raised eggs– in all their nutritious glory. They are not just a symbol of fertility and birth, but an excellent accompaniment for both.

Stephanie Ondrack has been with The Childbearing Society since 2003. She lives in East Van with her partner, 4 children, 5 cats, 3 chickens and the recent addition of 2 rats. You can read her thoughts on child development and learning at thesmallsteph.com