Will Eating Eggs Raise Your Cholesterol?

Eggs have long been demonized as a food that increases cholesterol. Is that really true?

No! It’s completely false – and always has been. Eating one to two eggs per day will NOT make your cholesterol levels go up, so forget that myth. The truth is, eggs are essentially a perfect food.

A recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that the group of study participants that ate 12 eggs per week experienced no negative effects on their total, cholesterol triglycerides or blood sugar levels. The other study group ate two eggs per week. Of the two groups, the one that ate 12 eggs per week felt more full after breakfast and less hungry throughout each day.

The study concluded that eating a healthy high cholesterol food like eggs does not lead to high lipid levels. Numerous other studies have backed the conclusion that cholesterol coming from the diet does not cause blood cholesterol problems.

All this research evidence has caused a change in the US dietary guidelines. There is no longer a dietary cholesterol intake limit. 

Eggs, specifically yolks, are considered a quality source of protein. You can get all eight essential amino acids from eggs.

They’re also a great source of healthy fat!

Eggs even contain lutein and zeaxanthin, which are important for your eye health. To top it off, eggs are a great source of vitamin B12.

First, buy healthy eggs. Specifically, you need to buy organic pasture-raised eggs. They must be labeled with those words. For more on the different types of eggs, check this blog out.

As for preparation, the less you cook your eggs the more nutrients you preserve. Eating them raw, poached, or soft boiled – so the yolk is runny – keeps more nutrition intact.

If you want to go with a raw egg, hiding it in a smoothie is way easier than drinking one raw. Trust me on that. I actually tried the raw thing for a few months as a kid after I saw the wrestler Hulk Hogan do it. It used to take me like 20 minutes to get three or four eggs down. Now I just put them in a smoothie or minimally cook them.

Unfortunately, scrambled eggs are actually the worst way to cook them. This is because when the fat in the yolk meets the iron in the egg white, an oxidation reaction occurs. Consuming the egg in this state can cause inflammation, which can damage the DNA and proteins in your cells.

Like I said above, it’s better to eat raw or very lightly cooked eggs.

However, if the only way you will eat them is scrambled, then cook them as lightly as you can tolerate.

If you’re a bit freaked out by the prospect of eating raw or undercooked eggs because of a concern about harmful bacteria, you should know that conventional farms are way more likely than local organic farms to produce eggs that carry harmful bacteria like salmonella. This is because the conventional farms use antibiotics to control disease, and this practice encourages bacteria to morph and become resistant.

Just another reason to buy organic pasture-raised eggs.

To sum up – if it wasn’t clear earlier – even the government is now stating that the consumption of high cholesterol foods doesn’t increase cholesterol in the body. That means, from a cholesterol viewpoint, you can safely enjoy things like eggs, as well as butter, red meat, and bacon.

Just please be sure to choose animal products from animals that are organic, pasture-raised, grass-fed, and raised without antibiotics and hormones. If you buy eggs labeled organic pasture-raised, you’ll have the right ones.

Check out some of my other blogs and videos where I cover how you should limit your protein intake to between three and six ounces per meal, for most people.

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