- Eggs are among the most nutritious foods on the planet. However, they have gotten a bad reputation because the yolks are high in cholesterol. So are they safe to eat?
(chiming melody) For many decades, people have been advised to limit their consumption of eggs because the yolks contain cholesterol. It was thought that if you ate cholesterol, it would raise cholesterol in the blood and contribute to heart disease, but that was wrong. The liver actually produces large amounts of cholesterol each day.
When we eat more eggs, the liver just produces less cholesterol instead, so it basically evens out. It appears that the response to whole egg consumption depends on the individual though. In the vast majority of people, it has no effect on total or LDL "bad" cholesterol.
The exception is some who are genetically susceptible, but even then, it's debatable if the cholesterol increase actually influences heart disease risk or not. In fact, the 2015 to 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans has dropped the limit on dietary cholesterol. The government's expert panel has now said that dietary cholesterol is no longer a nutrient of concern.
How much is too much? Eating up to three eggs per day appears to be safe. Unfortunately, there's no study showing people eating more than three eggs per day or more than 21 eggs per week.
It is possible, although unlikely, that eating more than three eggs per day could cause detrimental effects on health. But more than three per day is really just uncharted territory, so to speak. It's also important to keep in mind that not all eggs are the same.
They healthiest are Omega-3 enriched eggs, or eggs from hens that are raised on pasture. Now these eggs are much higher in Omega-3s and important fat-soluble vitamins. So if you eat three per day, these small nutritional differences may start to add up over time.
Overall, the science shows that eating eggs is perfectly safe. In fact, you can eat up to three per day. And it seems that the government recommendations have finally caught up with the science too.
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