Cholesterol is funny. Yes, high cholesterol levels are associated with heart disease. Yes, it is good to lower it, but for most people, the effect of dietary cholesterol is minimal and the reduction of total and
saturated fat is more important.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/fats.html
Eggs arent that bad, but they arent that good for you. Cholesteral intake IMO, is important, but I would worry about saturated fats more. Saturated fats raise LDL (which is the bad cholesterol). Im certainly no authority on this so if anyone wants to add or corfrect me, please do, so I think correctly as well as anyone reading this. :)
Some people at BB.com were arguing that dietary cholesterol does not affect cholesterol levels, that the majority if cholesterol is created in the liver. While the liver does produce most of our cholesterol, if our diets had very little impact on cholesterol levels (as many of them argued), then we would have very little control over our cholesterol levels and just except whatever came out of our livers.
Cholesterol is a necessary component for living cells. However, high levels of blood cholesterol are associated with an increased risk of heart disease. To complicate matters even more, blood cholesterol can be divided into two types, one of which actually lowers the risk of heart disease! To get the story on cholesterol straight, it's necessary to understand something about how cholesterol works in the body and how it can contribute to heart disease.
Most of the cholesterol in the body is produced by the
liver. A significantly smaller amount comes from dietary sources, such as meat, eggs, and dairy products. Cholesterol travels throughout the body via the blood stream, being absorbed by cells along the way to be used for important processes, such as hormone production and cell membrane repair. Because it isn't water soluble, cholesterol is ferried along the bloodstream encased in protein. These cholesterol-filled protein orbs are called lipoproteins. Lipoproteins come in a variety of sizes that behave differently from one another. Broadly, health care providers and scientists talk about low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and high-density lipoproteins (HDL).
The role of both types of cholesterol in heart disease centers around the formation of arterial plaques — fatty, filmy deposits on arterial walls. Over time, plaques become hardened, leading to narrow, rigid arteries that impede blood flow and thereby increase the risk of heart attack. Also, smaller plaques sometimes develop blood clots on their surface, which can then detach and go on to block arteries downstream, potentially leading to heart attack. Although the biochemistry involved isn't simple, the take home message is that LDL contributes to the formation of plaques on the artery walls, while HDL helps prevent their formation. Accordingly, LDL is often called "bad" cholesterol while HDL is called "good" cholesterol. (These terms apply only to blood cholesterol; dietary cholesterol is neither good nor bad in this sense.)
Eggs are a great form of protein, and other nutrients. The reason you hear different recommendations is because they vary depending on who you are. It's well established that saturated fat (the kind found in high fat meats, high fat dairy, and tropical oils) is more significant in raising blood cholesterol levels than dietary cholesterol. But, everyone responds to dietary cholesterol differently, meaning it may have more of an effect raising one person's blood cholesterol than another's. Unfortunately, we can't tell who will be affected in advance. If you're a healthy person, the American Heart Association says you need to take in 300 mg or less of dietary cholesterol a day. If you have any of the following risk factors, 200 mg or less is recommended:
family history of heart disease
total cholesterol over 240 mg/dl
high blood pressure
diabetes
smoker
One whole egg contains between 213 - 220 mg of cholesterol. The fat, cholesterol, and most of the vitamins and minerals are found in the yolk. By the way, the saturated fat content of an egg is less than 2 grams, which is low. If you are in good health and know that your total blood cholesterol is below 200 mg, it is probably okay to have one whole egg a day if you limit other sources of cholesterol. The American Heart Association recommends 3 - 4 egg yolks per week for healthy individuals, probably because they expect that people will eat other foods that have cholesterol — these include all other animal-based products, some containing more cholesterol than others. To give you an idea:
Food Item
Dietary Cholesterol (mg)
whole milk (1 cup) 35
skim milk (1 cup) 4
cheese (1 oz.) 20 - 30
butter (1 T.) 35
beef (3.5 oz.) 70 - 100
chicken (3.5 oz.) 75 - 90
shrimp (3.5 oz.) 215
cod (3.5 oz.) 65
If you're eating eggs and other high cholesterol foods often, it would be wise to have your blood cholesterol levels checked regularly to be sure that they don't suddenly rise.
Whipping up omelets using one whole egg and two or more egg whites is a good idea. This will give you a nice, fluffy dish with flavor, too. If you're looking for other low-cost nutritious foods, try preparing simple bean dishes. Since the fiber in beans helps to lower blood cholesterol levels, this could be a healthy alternative for egg-less times.
