Understanding Eggnog

ByABC News
December 19, 2006, 6:37 PM

Dec. 21, 2006 — -- Eggnog: a friendly cup of cheer.

It's part of the season -- right along with holiday parties, gift-giving, and that ever popular (not) fruitcake.

Eggnog has been around a while, but it's definitely morphed over the years. Various European countries had their punches of milk, wine, and sometimes eggs as far back as the 17th century.

In the New World, rum was cheaper than wine and more available, so it became the booze of choice to make eggnog.

Adding alcohol to eggs and milk was also practical. With no real refrigeration, people needed some means of ensuring food safety. Alcohol adds at least a possibility of longer preservation, because it makes for a more "hostile environment" for bacteria. And, sugar just made it all taste good.

The name is a combination of egg and "nog," either a form of "grog," an Old World name for rum, or "noggin," a wooden mug. No matter how it began, eggnog has maintained its place as a favorite holiday beverage.

Of course, we've managed to let go of the lifestyle that accompanied the original drink. Back then, people did hard labor. They plowed 40 acres with little more than a mule. They could use the extra calories and richness of eggnog without packing on excess weight. The early colonists also only lived about 40 years.

Now, things are a little different.

Most of us would like to hang around for a few more winters, but extra pounds can certainly contribute to an early death, so we may need to rethink all the eggnog guzzling. It isn't exactly a diet-friendly beverage.

Eggnog is basically a festival of fat and sugar. Tastes good, but it can bite back if you're not careful. The fat is mostly saturated fat, the stuff that clogs arteries like sludge in a drainpipe. Indeed, the fat and sugar amount to most of the calories in eggnog.

Think the culprits in eggnog are the eggs and cholesterol? Bah, humbug to that. Eggs aren't the bad guys. Alcohol isn't the problem, either.

Today's commercial eggnog has no alcohol (unless you add it yourself). Off the shelf, it's a mix of milk, cream, sugar (usually corn syrup) and flavorings.

Keith-Thomas Ayoob is an associate professor in the department of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.