By Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDNEnvironmental Nutrition
For years, even decades, common wisdom was that if you wanted to eat a heart-healthy diet, you should avoid eating eggs, which are high in cholesterol. Actually, egg whites were given a pass, because the yolks contain all the cholesterol. The rationale was that dietary cholesterol would raise levels of cholesterol in the blood, especially LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, thus increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack, and stroke. Is there any truth to this?
Scientific Evolution
Not only did the idea of avoiding eggs seem logical, but it’s what doctors were advising their patients, and what researchers, health organizations and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans were recommending. But eventually, scientists observed that most of the cholesterol in our bodies is made by our liver, and for most people, dietary cholesterol does little to affect the cholesterol in our blood.
