
2. Cholesterol
The greatest criticism against eggs is that they contain high levels of cholesterol.
However, eggs contain high-density lipoproteins (HDL) which are actually vital for the body and brain.
HDL provides stability in every cell of your body and helps your body produce vitamin D and hormones like testosterone, estrogen and cortisol (2,3).
Unlike low-density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol), which clings to the walls of your blood vessels, HDL cholesterol scrubs the inner walls of these vessels and prevents atherosclerosis. It also lowers LDL levels and does not contribute to heart disease or stroke in otherwise healthy people, so you can eat as many as you want (4,5).
Regular egg consumption can, however, increase likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease in diabetics (6).
So there you have it, the confusion surrounding the health status of HDL in eggs and high cholesterol has been debunked (7). You can eat more eggs with less worry.
To keep cholesterol levels controlled, it’s best to just avoid eating excessive amounts of sugar, exercise daily, maintain a healthy weight, eat more veggies and stop smoking.