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Eggs have too much cholesterol. Eating them is like signing your own death
certificate. You’ll clog your arteries and eventually roll over dead from a heart
attack, right? Wrong.
The Nutritious Egg
Sure, some people may be especially sensitive to the high cholesterol content
of egg yolks, but for the average person, eggs are not the sinful food they’re
cracked up to be. In fact, with about six grams of protein in each egg, eggs
are one of the best sources of protein around. They’re packed full of vitamins
A, D, E, and B and contain significant amounts of minerals such as calcium,
magnesium, potassium, zinc, and iron. It’s true that one egg yolk contains a
whopping 210 mg of cholesterol, but for most people this won’t translate
directly to high blood cholesterol levels.
“I think eggs have gotten a very bad rap. They’re an excellent source of protein,”
says registered nutritionist and Rocky Mountain Chapter of the American College
of Sports Medicine board member Cindy Byfield. “Eggs play a really small part
in raising people’s cholesterol levels. I think they’re a pretty
nutritious food.”
The Perfect Food
In the 1960s, scientists fed an abundance of eggs to rabbits and rats and
found that their arteries clogged, and they experienced a higher risk of heart
disease. Experts attributed this to a high cholesterol intake and the stigma
has stuck ever since, Byfield explains. But recent studies comparing egg-eaters
and egg-shunners, both with low-fat, healthy diets, found no significant
difference in blood cholesterol levels.
“An estimated 85% of Americans can eat a high cholesterol diet with no elevation
in blood cholesterol,” writes Nancy Clark in her Sports Nutrition
Guidebook.
“Eggs are not just incredible, but what I would call the perfect food,” writes
Dr. Phil Maffetone in his book In Fitness and in Health. According to Maffetone,
your body absorbs as little as 10% of the cholesterol contained in foods. By
his math a hearty egg-eater could consume a dozen eggs in a day before reaching
the 300mg daily-recommended maximum for cholesterol. While that may seem
excessive for most people, experts agree that it’s safe to eat more than the
four-eggs-a-week maximum suggested by the American Heart Association. Because
blood cholesterol is manufactured by your liver, and is produced independently
of cholesterol intake (so called “dietary cholesterol’), what you should really
watch out for is saturated fats. These fats encourage increased
cholesterol production.
The Real Culprits
“For the general population, I don’t think eggs are a problem,” says Byfield.
“What’s worse for a person is what we eat with the eggs; butter, bacon, fried
foods. That’s a lot more unhealthy than the eggs themselves.”
Byfield says these fatty foods encourage your liver to produce more cholesterol,
and more low-density lipoproteins (LDLs), which carry cholesterol through your
body. LDLs have a proven relation to coronary problems, causing buildup of blood
cholesterol in your arteries. Their counter-component, HDLs (high
density lipoproteins), actually help clear the arteries and return accumulated
cholesterol to your liver, in effect protecting against heart disease,
Maffetone says. Non-fatty foods translate to less production of
LDLs.
Cholesterol Ain’t All Bad
And don’t forget that cholesterol serves a purpose, too. It’s an essential
component in our body’s cell membranes, as well as nerve and brain sheathing.
Cholesterol is also a key part of your body’s hormone production, affecting
the adrenal glands, testosterone, and estrogen levels. In young children,
cholesterol is vital for brain development, and if you avoid eating all
cholesterol completely, your body will manufacture it anyway, Byfield
says.
All this said, there are some people who simply can’t tolerate cholesterol.
If you’re genetically prone to heart disease, steer clear of eggs. And if
you’re not sure, get your blood cholesterol checked, including LDL and HDL
levels. If you don’t have a family history of heart disease but are worried
anyway, check your fat intake and eat a balanced diet before concluding that
eggs are the root of all evil.
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