The Truth On High Cholesterol Levels & Egg Consumption
Jun 24th, 2007 by Mehdi
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Question
One reader asks
“Hi Mehdi. I’ve just checked your egg recipes. I wondered, isn’t 6 eggs at breakfast too much?
Like doesn’t that kind of egg consumption lead to high cholesterol levels & thus increased risk of coronary hearth disease?”
Answer. Cholesterol & eggs. I guess this is another one of those training & nutrition myths that still goes around. Let’s uncover the truth.
Facts on Cholesterol. Some facts on cholesterol you should know:
- Cholesterol is vital to your body
- Your body produces more cholesterol than you eat
- High cholesterol levels protects against infection
- High cholesterol levels makes you live longer
- High cholesterol intake raises your testosterone levels (check the Anabolic Diet)
Bottom line. It’s always better to have high cholesterol levels than low cholesterol levels.
Cholesterol in Eggs. The reason eggs have a bad reputation is that they contain high amounts of cholesterol. One large egg has:
- 200mg cholesterol
- 5g of fat (2g is saturated fat)
If you’ve been removing the yolk from your eggs, stop right now. The yolk contains all the fat, all the vitamins (A,D,E) & half the protein. Eat the yolk. It will make your life easier.
Saturated Fat. Just a reminder. You need all kinds of fat:
- Omega 3: fish oil, flax seed
- Omega 6: red meat, buter, cheese,…
- Omega 9: olive oil
Don’t concentrate on omega 3s only. Balance your fat intake.
Coronary heart diseases. Back to the original question. What about coronary heart disease? To avoid any problems, you should:
- Start exercising
- Lose excess body fat
- Lower your caloric intake
- Lower your carb consumption (the real killer!)
- Balance your fat intake: omega 3/6/9
- Stay away from artificial transfats (junk food)
- Relax, remove the stress
If that doesn’t help, then maybe you’re genetically predisposed.
More Info on Cholesterol.
- The Great Cholesterol Con by Anthony De Celpo.
- The Anabolic Diet Dr DiPasquale High Fat/High Protein diet.
- The Truth About Saturated Fat
- The Truth about Saturated Fats and Cholesterol
- Stop Blaming Saturated Fat Men’s Health
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I totally agree with you. Being worried about high cholesterol to the point you’re afraid to eat eggs, then you should really look at those last 7 points.
Personally, I like my eggs scrambled, seasoned with the obligatory salt and pepper, but also with dried oregano and cracked coriander. Awesome flavours and a little bit of heat.
Coriander is great Connor. Never used it on my eggs, however it tastes great with barbecued meat in the summer.
I’m gonna try that some time eggs with coriander. Thanks for posting.
I also agree. What I think everyone should be concerned about is how they should cook their eggs so that it would be as healthy as possible. Also another key is moderation. We can’t expect to be healthy by eating huge amounts of food even if they are healthy.
Everything becomes poison when you exaggerate, even water. I’d also advise to cook your eggs vs. eating them raw. Good tip Alex.
I agree with you mehdi, on the cooking vs. raw thing. From everything I’ve heard, you only get about half of the possible protein from raw eggs compared to cooked eggs, no matter how much more macho it makes you seem.
You’ll also agree Trhyah, that cooked eggs are much more tasty than raw eggs. Glad to read we’re all on the same line here.
I also heartily encourage anyone interested in another (better, I think) view on cholesterol to read “The Great Cholesterol Con” by Anthony Colpo (beware there is another book with the same name that is not nearly as good). Another good book is “The Cholesterol Myths” by Uffe Ravnskov. You can view an overview of this book on his website at http://www.ravnskov.nu/cholesterol.htm
Both of these are based on the very same studies that mainstream medicine uses to justify a fear of saturated fats and cholesterol - and to sell lots of statins. These present the raw data instead of the very biased “summaries” touted by the establishment. They expose a lot of bad science and various biases from researchers, medical groups, big pharma, government, etc. Both books are very interesting and present you with enough detail that you can make up your own mind.
True, it’s ridiculous. I’ve never heard of death by cholesterol caused by regular consumption of eggs. Eggs are probably one of the oldest and basic food of people and there’s no reason for us to worry about it.
Thanks for sharing this info. A lot of people are confused regarding cholesterol in eggs and it’s because of the wrong information some are providing
Totally agree with you, Wally & Rhonda. Thanks for the comment.
I second that George. Both “The Great Cholesterol Con” & “The cholesterol Myths” are excellent books. Colpo’s book is a little better because it has the latest research.
Thanks for the comment George.
cholesterol is largely genetic…
my diet is high meats, cheeses, eggs and animal proteins and my cholesterol is pretty much perfect.
You’re on the Anabolic Diet too, Jay
I agree that cholesterol is largely cholesterol when everything else has been taken care of.
Red meat does NOT contain much Omega-6, which is a polyunsaturated fat. Plant oils do (eg soybean oil).
See http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search
100g top sirloin:
Total fat: 5.9g
Saturated: 2.2g
Monounsaturated: 2.4g
Polyunsaturated: 0.3g
The 3 main types of fat are saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. The polyunsaturated can be divided into Omega-3 and Omega-6. This can still be divided into specific types. Most of the Omega-9 fats are monounsaturated.