Many years ago, decades in fact, scientists discovered that the plaques formed in the arteries of patients with heart disease are primarily made up of cholesterol. So, in 1968, the American Heart Association put forth the recommendation that individuals should consume no more than 300mg of cholesterol per day (this would cut in half the 600mg of cholesterol that was the average daily intake for Americans at the time). So eggs, with their whopping 200mg of cholesterol in each yolk, were quickly placed on the “no-no” list. Made sense, right?
It took time, but the idea caught hold, and nowadays I find that most people I speak to are quite conscientious about limiting their egg intake in order to prevent heart disease. This recommendation was made before I was born, but my generation, too, is practicing this behaviour.
The problem is, over the last 25 years, new studies and new information about how the body works has come to light. It is still true that plaques are made up of cholesterol, but now we understand that the vast majority of that cholesterol was made by our own bodies, and did not come from the food we ate.
We understand now that there are two kinds of cholesterol transport in the body – LDL and HDL. The L DL (the l ousy cholesterol, or the number we want to be l ow) transports fat and into the body; and when there’s too much of it, starts getting stuck to artery walls where the cholesterol in it begins accumulating to make plaques. On the other hand, H DL (the h appy cholesterol, or the number we want to be h igh) is part of the clean-up crew that travels through the body and picks up the cholesterol out of those plaques and carries it out to be broken down and eliminated.)
HDL and LDL are affected by many things; saturated and trans fats, and erratic blood sugars all have significantly negative impacts. Specifically, the intake of saturated and trans fats both trigger our bodies ‘ own production of cholesterol, which is then turned into LDL; as well, high blood sugars trigger the production of insulin, which in turn signals the body to produce LDL. And the effect of dietary cholesterol, after looking at years of study? Negligible.
Studies have been done looking at egg consumption specifically, and consistently show that in healthy individuals, increased consumption (studies varied from 7-21 eggs a week) did not adversely affect their blood lipid profile. In some studies LDL showed an increase, but a corresponding increase was seen in HDL, balancing out the profile. In addition, the LDL and HDL particles themselves were significantly larger; what makes this interesting is that the larger LDL particles are less able to enter the arteries to produce plaques, and the larger HDL particles are better at removing plaques. An improvement on both fronts.
The only area of concern was in diabetic subjects – increased egg consumption increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD).
Given that eggs are an affordable and excellent source of protein, easy to prepare, and versatile food, it is a real shame that their reputation has been maligned for so long!
So what’s the take home message? Go ahead and enjoy your eggs. Unless you are diabetic, even a couple a day appear to be fine. If you are diabetic, keep the number of eggs way down (the risk of CHD increases once you have more than 1 egg per week ). If you’re worried about your cholesterol, remember it’s far better to skip the bacon and butter than to cut out the eggs.
Bon appetit!
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