07/29/2024
Eggs - good or evil?
For decades, eggs were considered to be a healthy part of the American diet.
They’re high in protein, choline (an important part of your cell membranes) and vitamins B, D and E. Like dairy products, the protein in eggs is particularly rich in the amino acid leucine (https://www.askdrlavine.com/leucine/), which has a hormone signaling effect that tells the body to build more muscle. Eggs pack lots of nutrition in a small package.
Then, beginning in the 1960’s, physicians began to worry about the role that cholesterol played in the health of your arteries. Too much cholesterol was bad. And eggs are high in cholesterol, so eating eggs had to be bad too. The 1968 dietary advice given by the American Heart Association suggested limiting your intake to 3 eggs per week.
Since 1968, as our knowledge has grown, the guidelines about egg consumption have shifted too. Though at times different research projects seem to contradict each other (a lot depends on the details,) many studies show that egg consumption actually raises HDL cholesterol (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35745278/) (that’s good!) and other blood markers of healthy metabolism.
Finally, in 2015, new dietary guidelines rewrote the book on eggs. The evidence to limit egg consumption just isn’t there. To begin with, there’s only a weak link between dietary intake of cholesterol and serum cholesterol (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9143438/). And the possibility that eggs help raise HDL cholesterol and other beneficial metabolic indicators also means that recommending a limit to egg intake makes little sense.
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