Eggs on Trial.... Guilty or Innocent?

Keeping up with the debate over eggs and cholesterol is like watching a tennis match--one minute they're harmless and a great source of protein.

The next minute, they're to be avoided or minimized due to their cholesterol.

A new study has reached a verdict

​Researchers looked at how saturated fat and dietary cholesterol affect blood cholesterol. Participants rotated through 3 diets, each lasting 5 weeks:

• The Control Diet: high in both cholesterol and saturated fat (limited to 1 egg per week)

• The Egg Diet: 2 eggs per day, low in saturated fat

• The Egg-free Diet: no eggs, but higher in saturated fat

The verdict: The egg diet improved cholesterol levels.

LDL (“bad” cholesterol) dropped by nearly 6 points compared to the control diet.

The egg-free plan showed no benefit.

The conclusion? The cholesterol in eggs doesn't drive blood cholesterol higher—it’s the saturated fat in your diet.

One large egg has about 200 mg of cholesterol, which used to be considered two-thirds of the recommended daily limit. That’s why eggs were villainized for decades.

But eggs are naturally low in saturated fat (only about 1.6 grams each), which is the real driver of blood cholesterol.

Eggs were the victim of guilt by association

​Saturated fat, found in foods like bacon, sausage, butter, cheese, and fried foods, signals your liver to make more cholesterol and to clear less LDL from your blood.

That drives your numbers up, not the cholesterol in an egg yolk.

Your body makes most of its cholesterol on its own. When you eat more dietary cholesterol, your liver balances things out by producing less.​

Dietary cholesterol, found in foods, is different from blood cholesterol,the cholesterol in your blood, including both LDL and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.

So....can you eat eggs?

For most healthy adults, the answer is yes. Research now supports the idea that eating an egg a day is safe for your heart and delivers lots of benefits. Eggs are nutrient-dense and versatile.

That said, there are exceptions.

If you have high cholesterol, a genetic condition like familial hypercholesterolemia, hypothyroidism, or certain kidney disorders, dietary cholesterol may affect you differently.

In those cases, your doctor may recommend limiting eggs to a few per week or choosing egg whites, which contain protein without cholesterol.

Eggs are no longer the dietary villain they were once made out to be. The bigger concern for your heart health is how much saturated fat you’re eating overall.

Pair your eggs with veggies or whole grains instead of bacon and buttered toast, and you’ll have a meal that works with your heart health, not against it.

As one of the study authors put it: “When it comes to a cooked breakfast, it’s not the eggs you need to worry about—it’s the extra serving of bacon or the side of sausage.”