I recently reviewed the literature looking at the effects of egg intake and the risk of elevating cholesterol and then the risks of increasing heart disease. What I found may surprise some of you. It has been assumed that since eggs do contain a higher amount of cholesterol than most other foods, that eating more eggs will increase cholesterol levels and therefore increase the risk of heart disease. But in reviewing the literature, this is not the case. There have been several well-conducting studies that asked these questions with the result being that the amount of eggs did NOT adversely affect cholesterol levels.
Eggs do contain a lot of cholesterol–but they contain very high amounts of good cholesterol so this is a good thing. Also, it has never been clearly shown that high cholesterol leads to a shorter life span. Cholesterol is made by our liver and it is estimated that 90-95% of our cholesterol is made internally and only 5-10% of cholesterol comes from our dietary choices.
Eggs are complete proteins and supply a good deal of healthy fats as well. Eggs are one of the best food choices we have. It is a shame that so many of us feel limited in how many eggs we can eat. Eggs truly are super-foods. Make sure you get eggs from free range, organic chickens. Because what matters more than the amount of cholesterol in the eggs, is truly WHAT the chickens who laid the eggs ate.
So go ahead and eat more eggs–the more the better–because we all need complete protein and healthy fat.
Tags: cholesterol, eggs, heart disease