Can I Eat More Than Two Eggs Per Week?

By Jeremy Oms


Eggs have long been in the list of high-cholesterol foods so much so that there is even a dietary recommendation to limit the consumption of eggs to no more than 2 to 3 per week. Is this really true? And is this still true in light of more recent findings on eggs and cholesterol metabolism?

How Much Cholesterol Can Be Consumed Each Day?

Eggs are indeed high in cholesterol and do have an impact on the cholesterol levels of the blood. The egg white does not contain any cholesterol at all but the egg yolk packs 213 mg of cholesterol. If you consider that the maximum dietary intake of cholesterol is set at 300 mg per day, then a single egg is just 100 mg short of this limit.

For an individual who has normal cholesterol levels, Dr. Behrenbeck of the Mayo Clinic recommends that the cholesterol intake should be limited to 300 mg a day. This means that if one eats an egg which has 213 mg of cholesterol, he should keep in mind that he only has about 90 mg of remaining cholesterol allowance to add to his diet.

The guideline is different for an individual who has cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hypertension or a high level of LDL (the so-called bad cholesterol). For these people, it is presumed that cholesterol metabolism is abnormal and the limit is lowered to only 200 mg of cholesterol per day. This means eating a single egg, which has an average of 213 mg of cholesterol, already exceeds the daily limit.

Take into account the other sources of fats and cholesterol in your diet.

When eating an egg, you may feel safe in the thought that you are well below the limit for cholesterol. However, you should also take into consideration that you must add up your other sources of cholesterol for that day. The oil you used for frying, for instance, must be figured in. The fats from your milk and the butter from your cake should be counted as well. For many people whose consumption of other cholesterol sources is already high, it may be wise to limit eggs to such an extent as to not exceed the limit.

Does Egg White Counteract The Effect of Egg Yolk?

A research published in the website of the National Center for Biotechnology Information in 2008 revealed that a substance in egg white has been found to counteract the cholesterol-raising effect of yolk. This indicates that eating whole eggs, as opposed to eating just the yolk, may not even raise cholesterol levels at all. There may also be a lot of conventional wisdom in the practice of adding more egg white to whole eggs.

In conclusion, if you have no cardiovascular problems and your cholesterol profile is normal, you can safely eat one egg a day as the cholesterol an egg contains is well within the daily limits. However, be careful to factor in your other sources of fat into the computation. And be sure to eat whole eggs or more egg white for better cholesterol management.




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