The reason why many people are afraid of eggs is actually because they are afraid of the cholesterol in them. An average-sized egg contains approximately 200 milligrams of cholesterol, accounting for two-thirds of the recommended daily intake. It is generally believed that the more cholesterol you eat, the cholesterol content in your blood will definitely increase; if the cholesterol in the blood is high, the chance of getting coronary heart disease will definitely increase – in a word, eating eggs is easy to get coronary heart disease. Heart disease. Squid has also been labeled the same, such as the popular saying on the Internet that “one bite of squid is equal to sixty bites of fat meat.”
“Eating eggs can easily lead to coronary heart disease.” This logical chain is easy to understand, but it is not the case. To analyze this problem, let’s start with eggs.
What’s inside an egg?
An egg contains about 7 grams of protein. Eggs contain all eight essential amino acids needed by the human body. For humans, the protein type and amino acid composition of eggs are perfect, second only to breast milk. In addition, egg yolk is rich in lecithin, which is a very important nutrient in the nervous system. Considering the price factor, eggs are simply the most affordable food on the planet.
Although the cholesterol in eggs is very high, one egg yolk contains the same cholesterol as half a pound of lean meat. However, cholesterol is not as bad as many people think.
What is cholesterol?
If nouns have positive or negative energy, then cholesterol must belong to the latter. Many people have a bad impression of cholesterol and try every means to reduce their intake of cholesterol in their daily diet. But in fact, cholesterol is a very important thing in the body. Cholesterol is involved in the synthesis of bile acids, vitamin D, and hormones, such as the well-known estrogen and androgen.
Cholesterol exists in human blood in the form of lipoproteins, including high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), and very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL). The former is commonly known as “good” cholesterol, and the latter two Commonly known as “bad” cholesterol. HDL transports cholesterol from blood vessels back to the liver, while LDL and VLDL do the opposite and promote the deposition of cholesterol on blood vessel walls, thereby increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Therefore, there are good and bad cholesterols, and blindly reducing cholesterol intake is not good for your health.
Will eating eggs raise blood cholesterol levels?
The human body is not a beaker. It does not mean that the amount of reagents you pour into the beaker will determine the amount of reagents in the beaker. The levels of many nutrients in the blood are not directly proportional to the total amount of nutrients consumed. Here is another example to illustrate. Nowadays, various enzymes are purchased in the circle of friends. Enzymes are often referred to as enzymes. Enzymes are very important for the normal performance of various physiological activities of the human body. However, enzymes will be decomposed in the digestive tract and lose their biological activity. , no matter how many touted “enzymes” you eat, the enzyme levels in your body will basically not change.
In recent years, many medical studies have shown that blood cholesterol levels are more related to factors such as fat intake and physical activity level, but have little to do with the total daily intake of cholesterol. Most of the cholesterol in the human body is synthesized by itself. The liver synthesizes about 1,000 mg of cholesterol every day, which is far greater than the cholesterol contained in an egg yolk. In a study on the relationship between egg intake and blood cholesterol, subjects were divided into two groups. The experimental group ate one to three eggs a day, while the control group ate other foods instead. The experimental results showed that compared with the control group, the total cholesterol and LDL of most people in the experimental group remained basically unchanged, a small number of people had a slight increase in these two indicators, and almost everyone’s HDL increased.
Through these studies, we can find that “eating eggs causes hypercholesterolemia” is basically untenable. The American Heart Association believes that for people who want to lower their blood cholesterol levels, the first thing they should do is strictly control their total fat intake and saturated fat intake. Too much saturated fat is the main dietary cause of hypercholesterolemia.
How many eggs should you eat every day?
Breakfast containing eggs can bring many more comprehensive nutrients, significantly increase the feeling of fullness, reduce food intake in the short term, and ultimately help with weight loss. Therefore, for your health, please add an egg to your breakfast. If you are greedy, two or three eggs will not be a problem. Of course, if you have problems with your liver and kidney function, you should consult a doctor before feasting – eggs are rich in protein, and too much protein will increase the burden on your liver and kidneys.
References:
Know Your Fats. American Heart Association.
Bui, S., Oliver, J., Mardock, M., Beihl, A., & Riechman, S. E. (2010). High egg cholesterol consumption may not affect blood serum cholesterol levels in elite athletes in training. The FASEB Journal.
Fernandez, M. L. (2006). Dietary cholesterol provided by eggs and plasma lipoproteins in healthy populations. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care, 9(1), 8-12.
Vander Wal, J. S., Marth, J. M., Khosla, P., Jen, K. C., & Dhurandhar, N. V. (2005). Short-term effect of eggs on satiety in overweight and obese subjects. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 24( 6), 510-515.
