They’re a dense source of nutrients but not optimal. Full of sat. Fat and cholesterol. Optimal amount of dietary cholesterol is 0.

Cholesterol has less impact the more you eat so someone who is already eating a cholesterol-rich diet won’t see much additional negative impact from adding additional eggs. Egg industry realised this and was able to push a bunch of bunk science and label eggs as ‘healthy’

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Cholesterol

❗️ Dietary cholesterol does raise serum cholesterol level (mostly LDL and to a lesser extent apo-B), given that; a) baseline serum level is low enough
b) baseline intake is low.

Cholesterol is too big and bulky to cross the blood-brain barrier from the body's blood vessels into the brain tissue—so the brain makes all of its own cholesterol on site

• So, the impact of dietary cholesterol is in part dependent on your baseline serum cholesterol level and on your baseline dietary cholesterol intake.
• Given that the average american cholesterol level is 192mg/dl and the average daily intake is 300-400mg, most people are not likely to see a difference on their cholesterol level by adding more eggs, hence they come to the conclusion that eggs have no impact. But this is false when you start with a low (read normal) baseline intake and serum level.
• Dietary cholesterol and egg yolks: Not for patients at risk of vascular disease

  • The effects of dietary cholesterol on serum cholesterol are, in part, dependent on the diet and the characteristics of the individual consuming the cholesterol. Dietary cholesterol has a much greater effect on people consuming a low-cholesterol diet, with a threshold effect as shown by Connor et al (31)

• Effects of dietary cholesterol on serum cholesterol: a meta-analysis and review.

  • When modest amounts of cholesterol are added to the daily diet, the major predictor of change in serum cholesterol is baseline dietary cholesterol. Thus, when one or two eggs are added to a diet that is typical for the average American (containing ı400 mg/d), little change would be expected. [...] These observations suggest that persons who are accustomed to a very-low cholesterol diet may be more sensitive to dietary changes.

  • Serum cholesterol concentration is clearly increased by added dietary cholesterol but the magnitude of predicted change is modulated by baseline dietary cholesterol. The greatest response is expected when baseline dietary cholesterol is near zero, while little, if any, measurable change would be expected once baseline dietary cholesterol was > 400-500 mg/d. People desiring maximal reduction of serum cholesterol by dietary means may have to reduce their dietary cholesterol to minimal levels (< 100-150 mg/d) to observe modest serum cholesterol reductions while persons eating a diet relatively rich in cholesterol would be expected to experience little change in serum cholesterol after adding even large amounts of cholesterol to their diet.

• Evidences from meta-analysis #metaAnalysis
  • Dietary cholesterol from eggs increases the ratio of total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in humans: a meta-analysis

    • RESULTS: The addition of 100 mg dietary cholesterol/d increased the ratio of total to HDL cholesterol by 0.020 units (95% CI: 0.010, 0.030), total cholesterol concentrations by 0.056 mmol/L (2.2 mg/dL) (95% CI: 0.046, 0.065 mmol/L; 1.8, 2.5 mg/dL), and HDL-cholesterol concentrations by 0.008 mmol/L (0.3 mg/dL) (95% CI: 0.005, 0.010 mmol/L; 0.2, 0.4 mg/dL).

  • Dietary cholesterol and cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

  • Dietary cholesterol statistically significantly increased both serum total cholesterol (17 trials; net change: 11.2 mg/dL; 95% CI: 6.4, 15.9) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (14 trials; net change: 6.7 mg/dL; 95% CI: 1.7, 11.7 mg/dL). Increases in LDL cholesterol were no longer statistically significant when intervention doses exceeded 900 mg/d. Dietary cholesterol also statistically significantly increased serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (13 trials; net change: 3.2 mg/dL; 95% CI: 0.9, 9.7 mg/dL) and the LDL to high-density lipoprotein ratio (5 trials; net change: 0.2; 95% CI: 0.0, 0.3).

    • Plasma lipid and lipoprotein responses to dietary fat and cholesterol: a meta-analysis.

    • Predictions indicated that compliance with current dietary recommendations (30% of energy from fat, < 10% from saturated fat, and < 300 mg cholesterol/d) will reduce plasma total and low-density-lipoprotein-cholesterol concentrations by approximately 5% compared with amounts associated with the average American diet.

    • Dietary lipids and blood cholesterol: quantitative meta-analysis of metabolic ward studies.
    • Avoiding 200 mg/day dietary cholesterol further decreased blood total cholesterol by 0.13 (0.02) mmol/l and low density lipoprotein cholesterol by 0.10 (0.02) mmol/l.
• Evidences from eggs feeding studies

  • Effect of egg yolk feeding on the concentration and composition of serum lipoproteins in man

  • Upon egg yolk feeding the mean level of serum total cholesterol rose by 13%; the bulk of this rise was due to LDL cholesterol, which increased by 21%. VLDL and IDL cholesterol decreased by 19 and 11%, and serum total triglycerides by 17%.
  • Cholesterol feeding increases low density lipoprotein synthesis.

  • Egg supplementation raised high density and low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels by 18 and 40%, respectively.

  • A dose-response study of the effects of dietary cholesterol on fasting and postprandial lipid and lipoprotein metabolism in healthy young men.

  • Fasting plasma total cholesterol concentrations increased by 1.47 mg/dL (0.038 mmol/L) for every 100 mg dietary cholesterol added to the diet (P < .001). Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol increased in parallel. Responsiveness varied but appeared to be normally distributed. Fasting plasma apoprotein B concentrations increased approximately 10% between the 0- and 4-egg diets and were correlated with changes in total and LDL cholesterol concentrations.

  • The serum lipids in men receiving high cholesterol and cholesterol-free diets

  • The addition of dietary cholesterol in the form of egg yolk caused a significant increase in the concentration of cholesterol and phospholipid in the serum. The serum cholesterol and phospholipid decreased greatly when egg yolk cholesterol was removed from the diet.

  • Ingestion of egg raises plasma low density lipoproteins in free-living subjects

  • Mean plasma low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol was 12% higher (p = 0.005) and mean plasma apolipoprotein B was 9% higher (p = 0.007) when eggs were being consumed than during the eggless period.

  • Effects of dietary cholesterol and fatty acids on plasma lipoproteins.
  • Addition of 750 mg cholesterol to the diet with P/S = 0.25-0.4 raised LDL cholesterol by 16 +/- 14 mg/dl to 115% of basal diet values (n = 11, P less than 0.01); 1,500 mg increased LDL cholesterol by 25 +/- 19 mg/dl to 125% (n = 9, P less than 0.01).
• Dietary cholesterol does raise serum cholesterol level (mostly LDL and to a lesser extent apo-B), given that a) baseline serum level is low enough and b) baseline intake is low.
• If anyone has high-cholesterol, lowering dietary cholesterol intake to <200mg will certainly have a positive impact on this number.
• Effect of ingestion of meat on plasma cholesterol of vegetarians.
  • http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7019459
• Optimal low-density lipoprotein is 50 to 70 mg/dl: lower is better and physiologically normal.
  • http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15172426
• Meat raises cholesterol (heart disease risk) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9006469
• Relation Between Progression and Regression of Atherosclerotic Left Main Coronary Artery Disease and Serum Cholesterol Levels as Assessed With Serial Long-Term (>12 Months) Follow-Up Intravascular Ultrasound
  • http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/108/22/2757.full.pdf
• https://www.reddit.com/r/nutrition/comments/544lx0/dietary_cholesterol_do_increase_serum_cholesterol/