A high blood cholesterol level increases your risk for atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Atherosclerosis, in turn, increases your risk of high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke. Eggs are full of nutrition, but the yolk is high in cholesterol. Because of this, excess consumption of whole eggs can be a contributing factor for high blood cholesterol, although saturated fat in the diet is also to blame.
Cholesterol
Your body needs cholesterol for vitamin D synthesis and to make hormones. Lipoproteins, made of fat on the inside and protein on the outside, transport cholesterol throughout your body. Low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, is often called “bad” cholesterol. A high level of LDL increases cardiovascular disease risk by contributing to cholesterol buildup in your arteries. High-density lipoprotein, called HDL or “good” cholesterol, helps lower cardiovascular disease risk by removing unused cholesterol from your arteries and transporting it to your liver to be broken down. Your body makes all the cholesterol it needs, but you also consume it in foods from animal sources, including egg yolks.
Nutritional Benefits of Eggs
Eggs offer a lot of nutrition in a small package. One egg contains 71 calories, 55 of them in the yolk. An egg white provides 3.6 g of protein; an egg yolk has 2.7 g. The nearly 5 g of fat are almost all in the yolk, but only 1.6 g are saturated. An egg yolk contains 100 to 200 mg of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Except for vitamin C, a whole egg contains nearly every essential vitamin and mineral. The yolk also contains lutein and zeaxanthin, nutrients that help lower your risk of heart disease and age-related macular degeneration.
The Downside of Eggs
The bad news is that one large egg contains 213 mg of cholesterol, all of which is in the yolk. If you are healthy, you should limit your intake of dietary cholesterol to less than 300 mg per day. If you have cardiovascular disease, diabetes or a high LDL level, you should lower that to less than 200 mg. The Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study found an increase in the risk of heart disease among diabetics who ate one or more eggs a day.
Recommendations
Healthy people can safely eat one whole egg a day, but eating more can increase heart disease risk later in life. People with diabetes or cardiovascular disease should eat no more than three whole eggs per week. When calculating consumption, take into account that eggs can be in other foods, such as baked goods and pasta. When making recipes calling for eggs, substitute two egg whites for one egg to eliminate the cholesterol in the yolk. Use egg whites in omelets and scrambled eggs, or buy a cholesterol-free egg substitute. Just as important as reducing your consumption of egg yolks is reducing or eliminating the bacon, sausage and fried potatoes, all high in saturated fat, that often accompany eggs.
