Why Eating Eggs Might Not Raise Heart Disease Risk?

Whole egg consists of 2 main components: egg white and egg yolk. Egg white is a wonderful source of protein. Egg yolk contains not only essential nutrients like choline and lutein which are important for preserving our brain and eye health, but also important vitamins such as vitamins B2, B5, B12 and D.

But people have been told to limit intake of eggs because of high cholesterol in egg yolks. A single egg yolk has about 200 mg of cholesterol, making it as one of the richest sources of dietary cholesterol. High cholesterol is said to be a risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

In reality, dietary cholesterol and cholesterol in the blood are only weakly related. Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that is found in all cells of the body. The body needs some cholesterol to make hormones, Vitamin-D, and substances that help digest foods. The body makes all the cholesterol it requires, though cholesterol can also be found in the food eaten (dietary cholesterol). The liver is stimulated to make cholesterol primarily by saturated fat and trans fat in the diet, not dietary cholesterol.

Eating foods high in cholesterol has very little impact on the blood cholesterol levels for most people. That is why the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015 removed the prior recommendation to limit consumption of dietary cholesterol to 300 mg per day. In about 70 percent of the population, foods rich in cholesterol like eggs cause only a subtle rise in cholesterol levels or none at all. In the other 30 percent, these foods do cause a rise in blood cholesterol levels. 

Some evidence suggests that eggs might even be beneficial because this raises levels of HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol) that is associated with a lower risk of heart disease. Egg yolks are also rich in the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin that help eye health and protect against inflammation. Carotenoids need to be eaten with fat in order for the body to more fully absorb them, and a whole egg is the total package. Egg yolks contain a vibrant mix of saturated and unsaturated fat (about 5 grams per egg).

The risk of heart disease is influenced by the total lifestyle. It is a disease that has its root in inflammation and levels of inflammation are affected by weight, physical activity, the anti-oxidant levels in the diet and the type and amount of fats consumed.

Many huge studies that followed hundreds and thousands of people have found eating an egg a day is safe for most people. They did not find higher rates of heart attacks, strokes, or other cardiovascular diseases in people who eat up to an egg per day. A study by the University of Eastern Finland, for instance, reported that even carriers of the ApoE4 gene, which makes them highly susceptible to heart disease, egg and cholesterol intake was not linked to an increased risk of coronary artery disease. The findings were published online February 10, 2016 in the ‘American Journal of Clinical Nutrition’.

For the majority, an egg a day does not increase their risk of heart attack or stroke. But people who have difficulty controlling their total and LDL cholesterol, with diabetes, or already have heart disease, may want to be cautious about eating egg yolks and should instead choose foods made with egg whites. No more than 3 egg yolks per week is recommended.