The Myth - Eggs Raise Blood Cholesterol. NOPE

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thomasvision
thomasvision Posts: 129 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey guys,

I LOVE eggs. It is a anytime food for me. I can eat it for of course breakfast and also dinner if I don't feel like taking more than 5 minutes to whip up something. For a long time people have stayed away from eggs because of the Cholesterol eggs have but there have been lots of new studies that show that Eggs do not raise blood cholesterol.

A lot of myths die hard so I am definitely not expecting this one to go down without a fight. Here is a quote from askmen.com (posted all links below)

"It was previously thought that eggs raised blood cholesterol levels -- one of the main causes of heart disease. The yolk in a single large egg contains five grams of fat, so it was only natural for nutritionists to assume that eggs clogged up people's arteries, especially since they also contain dietary cholesterol .

Another myth was that cholesterol is fat. That is simply not true. Cholesterol is a waxy substance that resembles fat, but has little to do with it. Today, scientists know that cholesterol content in food and the cholesterol in our blood aren't as directly related as once thought. So to unravel the mystery that is the egg, one must look at cholesterol."

This is GREAT news for Egg lovers like myself. My day is not a good day if I don't have some eggs in the morning. But, if you have different info on the subject I would love to see that too as I love seeing both sides of the story (please provide links). But for me eggs are going to stay a large part of my diet.

Hey knowledge is definitely power so here are some Links to checkout for yourself
Here's the askmen.com link where I quoted from above- http://www.askmen.com/sports/foodcourt_60/66_eating_well.html

Other sites that talk about this topic
1 - Myth: Eating Cholesterol-Rich Foods Raises Blood Cholesterol Levels link - http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/Cholesterol-Rich-Foods-Raise-Blood-Cholesterol.html
2 - Eggs don't raise cholesterol(doctorshangout.com) - http://www.doctorshangout.com/forum/topics/eggs-dont-raise-cholesterol
3 - Eggs don't raise cholesterol or cause heart disease - http://towncenterwellness.com/blog-posts/eggs-ok/
4 - Are Eggs Bad for Cholesterol Levels? - http://www.livestrong.com/article/304665-are-eggs-bad-for-cholesterol-levels/

Replies

  • ChancyW
    ChancyW Posts: 437 Member
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    Thanks for sharing!

    As an ovo-vegetarian I don't really worry about cholesterol content in general but that's great to know!

    -Chancy
  • JennLifts
    JennLifts Posts: 1,913 Member
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    Saturated fat raises cholesterol more than food cholesterol raises your cholesterol.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
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    The cholesterol in food does not get absorbed by your body and does not affect your blood cholesterol levels. Saturated fats are turned into blood cholesterol.
  • jms023
    jms023 Posts: 37 Member
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    Well...I agree and disagree. Cholesterol DOES get absorbed from food, but genetics have a lot to do with how your body handles its cholesterol. So I wouldn't go crazy eating high-cholesterol foods if high blood cholesterol ran in my family. One thing that is for sure is that vegans who don't eat any sources of cholesterol have a much lower prevalence of cholesterol problems, because your body makes all of the cholesterol you need. Nothing is as simple as black and white, as this post seems to insinuate.

    -Current med student who stayed up WAY too late every night committing this stuff to memory
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    Saturated fat raises cholesterol more than food cholesterol raises your cholesterol.

    And eggs have a TON of fat in them so I will stick to whites most of the time.

    I don't eat yolks, but it's not because of cholesterol. It is because of fat. My fat % is set at 25%, and I recently discovered the 1 omelet with yolks as breakfast instead of what I normally have...but everything else being the same...makes me go over by as much as 15% for the day.

    I also noticed that when I started eating whites only a couple of years ago, my cholesterol went down a couple points. It was further reduced when I started exercising 6 days a week and even further when I started drinking Shakeology....but my lab reports show that egg whites are better for me than whole eggs, especially when I wasn't really exercising at first and still saw a reduction in cholesterol and triglycerides.

    I also agree with jms23 that it is not a black and white issue. I wouldn't go eating a ton of high cholesterol foods because of some studies that show it doesn't affect when, because the reality is there are other studies that show that it does. The real issue in my mind is exactly HOW MUCH does it affect you, and that is most likely a personal thing dealing with your own genetics and other factors. IMHO.
  • thomasvision
    thomasvision Posts: 129 Member
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    Thank you guys for "all" of your comments.

    @jms023 - I definitely appreciate your take on the issue and was hoping that I would get some difference perspective. I only wish you would have provided us with some links to some "recent" egg studies that showed your point of view as I like to read facts from both sides and is why I posted so many links to how I formulated my opinion. But thanks again!

    @Lyadeia - yes eggs effecting different people in different ways came up in almost everyone of these studies. I only posted about four links since I figured people may not look at them any way. I have never had cholesterol problems and don't have a history of bad cholesterol in my family. I eat ALOT of eggs a crazy amount everyday (not right now though because I am doing a fruit and veggie cleanse until Saturday). And even though I eat a lot my doctor visits have all been great. So, I think its good if people do go to the doctor and check their levels and to see if they change when introducing or taking away whole eggs from their diet. Thanks for your response as well!

    Thanks again guys!
  • beckajw
    beckajw Posts: 1,738 Member
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    Interesting post. My doctor recently told me that eating whole eggs is fine. And I was watching Oprah'a All Stars and Dr. Oz said people should feel free to include whole eggs in their diet. He said that he eats a couple of eggs every day and laughs when people order egg whites because most of the vitamins are in the yolk. I generally eat both mixing a whole egg with egg whites.
  • beckajw
    beckajw Posts: 1,738 Member
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    Saturated fat raises cholesterol more than food cholesterol raises your cholesterol.

    And eggs have a TON of fat in them so I will stick to whites most of the time.

    I don't think that is accurate. I believe that the fat in eggs is mostly polyunsaturated, which has been proven to lower cholesterol.
  • AmyCasey127
    AmyCasey127 Posts: 9 Member
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    We have a few backyard chickens and we have fresh eggs from them everyday. There's nothing like a fresh egg compared to one that's been siting on a grocery store shelf for a month or more! Love my chickens.
  • thomasvision
    thomasvision Posts: 129 Member
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    @ Beezor. That's awesome having your own chickens. We got a HUGE Farmers market here in Atlanta and get fresh eggs (love them). I would say I would love to have some chickens in my back yard but walking the puppy is too much responsibility from me sometimes lol.

    @beckajw - I found a link to back up your statement that eggs actually Lower LDL Cholesterol And Raise HDL Cholesterol By Eating More Eggs And Less Saturated Fats - http://lifelongfitnesstips.com/lower-ldl-cholesterol-and-raise-hdl-cholesterol-by-eating-more-eggs-and-less-saturated-fats.
    Thanks for bringing up that up.

    For the people AGAINST high egg consumption I would definitely love some links with some "new" studies on why we should NOT have high intake of eggs. Most of the studies I found were "really" old. Thanks again everyone for there input on this subject.
  • jms023
    jms023 Posts: 37 Member
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    thomasvision: Perhaps you can post some links from scientific journals, rather than "doctorshangout.com," and I would be more inclined to take it seriously.

    Here you go:

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18195171


    For those who don't feel like clicking, this study basically says that while consuming eggs infrequently does not raise the risk of heart failure, the consumption of 1 or more eggs every day does raise that risk. My motto: everything in moderation. And if you are at risk for heart problems, why take the chance? Healthy people with good genes can probably get away with it, but please do not spread the myth that high dietary cholesterol consumption does not lead to an increased risk of heart problems, because years of "old" research invalidate that claim.

    Also, what's wrong with "old" studies? As long as the science is valid, why would a study done 10 or 20 years ago be invalidated due to the time that has gone by since the results were published? Should we check to make sure gravity still works as Newton described it?
  • KeyMasterOfGozer
    KeyMasterOfGozer Posts: 229 Member
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    Also, what's wrong with "old" studies? As long as the science is valid, why would a study done 10 or 20 years ago be invalidated due to the time that has gone by since the results were published? Should we check to make sure gravity still works as Newton described it?
    You've answered your own question.

    1st, most of the studies showing the links between Saturated fat and cholesterol consumption are more like 50- 60 years old, not 10 - 20. Many of these studies have been shown to not be valid. I'm not saying they are wrong, but I'm saying that it is certainly valid to question the studies, and that is part of science.

    Also, Newton's descriptions of gravity were proven wrong 92 year ago by Albert Eintstein. Einstein will be proven wrong at some point. This is also part of the scientific process.
  • jms023
    jms023 Posts: 37 Member
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    I did not realize that gravity does not exist. I though Einstein dealt with the theory of relativity, which may "disprove" some Newtonian Laws, but the concept of gravity still exists. I believe Einstein just described it better than Newton did:

    http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/phy99/phy99x85.htm

    Key sentence: "The debate about the edges of which you are nibbling is not whether gravity is experienced by masse as a force, but rather on the mechanism by which gravity causes such experiences."

    So, yes, forgive me for posting something about a topic in which I have no formal training, but in my understanding gravity does exist, although perhaps not as Newton originally described it (as I said before). Though I was referring to its existence, and not its mechanism.

    But, lets get away from the theory of relativity and focus on cholesterol, shall we?

    I'm not sure which studies that were done 50-60 years ago you are referring to, but here is a study done 17 years ago which still stands:

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8148356

    Key sentence: "In summary, increases in dietary cholesterol resulted in linear increases in fasting total and LDL cholesterol in young, healthy men."
  • FrankMcGar
    FrankMcGar Posts: 1
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    Looks like the topic is a bit old, but the NIH study only looked at LDL and not HDL. A newer study by the U. Of Connecticut has reevaluated these findings. To paraphrase, eating 3 eggs a day increased both LDL and HDL (the good cholesterol), and the increase in LDL was associated with the larger-type LDL, which is less likely to enter artery walls. It is important to note that about 30% -40% of any group will have hyper-responders- those who will experience a significant spike in LDL levels, but even these hyper-responders "handled the excess that showed up in their blood "in the most anti-atherogenic way"—by depositing it in the largest lipoproteins. " in short, the newer studies are a bit more nuanced then the NIH study, so while the NIH study is certainly legitimate, it is somewhat outdated and only considers a limited aspect of how cholesterol works. Here is the link which cites the studies:

    http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/7301/title/Reevaluating_Eggs_Cholesterol_Risks

    This page also cites a U. Mich study with data from over 27,000 people collected in which cholesterol was "lowered people who ate more than four eggs per week than among people who eschewed eggs. "
  • rhettjd
    rhettjd Posts: 1
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    If you think still that eggs raise your ldl then I suggest you make yourself your own guinea pig and try it out, I myself have and for myself the studies who say it raises LDL and HDL well here are my results.
    After a 6 month study my LDL has gone down a few points and my HDL has gone up a few more points. How did I test this theory? I got my blood work done 6 months ago and compared my numbers. And also found that eating fats does not raise my LDL like all people keep suggesting. Sugar, processed grains, and processed fats seem to raise it more so then the other. As I eat fat daily you gotta have some and fat does not make you gain weight, after all these dieting myths and facts the bottom line is you gotta burn what you eat.
    If you over eat often and do not do any sort of exercise your going to gain weight. Test this out on yourself and see what changes but also make note if you are eating large volumes of sugar and or processed goods your going to see a spike regardless specially in your triglycerides and your LDL and your HDL will drop. I eat a protein low carb (diet) a way of eating and do not have any problems with cholesterol. Alot of the myths are also being pushed by the companies who want to make money out of the deal just what i have noticed over the years

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