01/08/2025
I'll be talking more about this in a talk on heart health at Budleigh library in the autumn.
Eggs lower cholesterol.
That’s right. A study just published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition [https://bit.ly/45dCF4C] finds that eating two eggs a day LOWERS LDL cholesterol, if in a diet not high in saturated fat. The study compared different diets and the diet high in saturated fat did raise LDL cholesterol.
Those who have followed my writings will know that, since my fist book in 1981, I have told the truth about eggs: a) they never raise cholesterol, nor heart disease risk – in fact they lower it and b) that cholesterol isn’t the problem in the first place. I have a whole chapter on this in my book Say No to Heart Disease.
Heart disease is a ‘disease’. High cholesterol is not. While high LDL cholesterol is associated, weakly, with more cardiovascular disease, if above about 7mmol/l, this is more because of the things that raise LDL cholesterol, namely a high sugar/carb diet and low vitamin C, than cholesterol\s ‘fault’. The old rule was you’re Ok if your cholesterol is below 6. Some would say 7. But, in order to sell statins, this was changed to 5.2mmol/l, for which the evidence is lacking.
The other main problem is that what’s measured as ‘LDL cholesterol’ includes Lipoprotein(a). It is part of that low density lipoprotein family. Lp(a) goes up when vitamin C goes down. In a perfect world you’d also be told how much of that LDL cholesterol is Lp(a).
Much more important, and always measured, is your triglyceride level. This fat in the blood is created when you eat too much sugar and carbs and/or alcohol. If your level is below 1mmol/l, and your HDL is high (above 1.6mmol/l) you really have nothing to worry about, regardless of your LDL cholesterol level. Best of all is your triglyceride/HDL ratio. If this is 2 or less, eg you have no more than twice the triglycerides to HDL, your risk of cardiovascular disease is minimal.
None of this has anything to do with eggs. Do read my book Say No to Heart Disease [https://www.holfordnutrition.com/product/say-no-to-heart-disease-patrick-holford/] to get the full story. By the way, your homocysteine level predicts two thirds of heart attacks in older people and many who have heart attacks have ‘normal’ cholesterol. Don’t trust your doctor is they use the QRisk calculator from NICE, putting in your age and your cholesterol level to basically sell you statins. They do, reliably, lower cholesterol, but are remarkably ineffective in reducing heart disease risk in those, as above, not actually at risk.
