Nutrition professionals have had remarkable success with demonizing perfectly healthy foods.
Probably the worst example of that is eggs, which are among the healthiest foods on the planet.
Just think about it… the nutrients in an egg are enough to turn a single fertilized cell into an entire baby chicken.
Even so… because eggs contain large amounts of cholesterol, they were believed to cause heart disease.
However, studies actually show that the cholesterol in the diet does NOT raise the bad cholesterol in the blood. Eggs raise HDL (the good) cholesterol and are not associated with an increased risk of heart disease (14, 15, 16, 17, 18).
What we’re left with is an incredibly healthy food… loaded with vitamins, minerals and powerful nutrients that are important for the eyes and brain (19, 20, 21).
Keep in mind that almost all the nutrients are found in the yolk… the white is nothing but protein. Telling people to ditch the yolks may be just be the most ridiculous nutrition advice in history.
The problem is the pro-inflammatory and oxidative effects dietary cholesterol has been shown to have on your LDL. This in turn can damage the endothelium (the lining inside our arteries) and increase cardiovascular effects. Another recent study found that frequent egg consumption might be as bad as smoking when it comes to carotid artery plaque build-up.
An egg has 187 mg of cholesterol, and the recommended limit is 300 mg per day—or only 200 mg if you have diabetes or risk factors for heart disease. “You can probably get away with one egg a day,” says Maxine Smith, R.D., L.D. a dietician at the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Human Nutrition. “Though if you’re high risk, limit yourself to two per week.”
Don’t believe it? A 2008 report from the Physicians Health Study backs up Smith’s suggestion, finding that eating one egg per day is generally safe—but that more than that can increase your heart disease risk later in life.
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