You’ve probably seen the headlines and social media blowing up about this new study showing an association between dietary cholesterol (and eggs) and heart disease.
My vegan friends are saying “I told you so” and my egg-o-maniac friends are saying that this is observational and can not conclude cause and effect not to mention some of the other flaws of this study. So what’s the deal?
First some physiology. When you eat cholesterol containing foods, the dietary cholesterol makes up a very small percentage of the cholesterol in circulation—remember that about 85 percent of the cholesterol in the circulation is manufactured by the body in the liver. It isn’t coming directly from the cholesterol that you eat. Individuals will have varying effects on how this changes their own serum cholesterol as your blood cholesterol depends mostly on your liver. The way people process cholesterol differs. Some people appear to be more vulnerable to cholesterol-rich diets. Some may absorb more cholesterol...some less. Some will have bigger changes in how the liver changes its own production and uptake of the cholesterol.
There are complaints that this study is like others where they used a single food frequency questionnaire and isn’t reliable and also we have experimental studies showing improvements in lipids when consuming eggs. What’s my practical suggestion?
I personally don’t eat eggs daily, but I don’t see an issue with having a few per week. How one responds will be individual and genetics can play a role in cholesterol levels. There are healthy properties in eggs. Check your cholesterol regularly. If you see your non hdl cholesterol (total cholesterol minus hdl cholesterol) increase when eating eggs, I would minimize.
This is why it’s important to keep a regular check on your lipids—when is the last time you had bloodwork? Know your numbers ❤️
My vegan friends are saying “I told you so” and my egg-o-maniac friends are saying that this is observational and can not conclude cause and effect not to mention some of the other flaws of this study. So what’s the deal?
First some physiology. When you eat cholesterol containing foods, the dietary cholesterol makes up a very small percentage of the cholesterol in circulation—remember that about 85 percent of the cholesterol in the circulation is manufactured by the body in the liver. It isn’t coming directly from the cholesterol that you eat. Individuals will have varying effects on how this changes their own serum cholesterol as your blood cholesterol depends mostly on your liver. The way people process cholesterol differs. Some people appear to be more vulnerable to cholesterol-rich diets. Some may absorb more cholesterol...some less. Some will have bigger changes in how the liver changes its own production and uptake of the cholesterol.
There are complaints that this study is like others where they used a single food frequency questionnaire and isn’t reliable and also we have experimental studies showing improvements in lipids when consuming eggs. What’s my practical suggestion?
I personally don’t eat eggs daily, but I don’t see an issue with having a few per week. How one responds will be individual and genetics can play a role in cholesterol levels. There are healthy properties in eggs. Check your cholesterol regularly. If you see your non hdl cholesterol (total cholesterol minus hdl cholesterol) increase when eating eggs, I would minimize.
This is why it’s important to keep a regular check on your lipids—when is the last time you had bloodwork? Know your numbers ❤️
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