The Cholesterol Issue
Do eggs adversely affect cholesterol levels? Most people would answer, "yes" without even thinking twice. However, this seems to be a popular misconception not supported by the evidence, according to Dr. Donald J. McNamara, PhD, of the Egg Nutrition Center, in Washington, DC, who made a presentation entitled, "The Impact of Egg Limitations on Coronary Heart Disease Risk: Do the Numbers Add Up?"
According to Dr. McNamara:
For over 25 years eggs have been the icon for the fat, cholesterol and caloric excesses in the American diet, and the message to limit eggs to lower heart disease risk has been widely circulated. The "dietary cholesterol equals blood cholesterol" view is a standard of dietary recommendations, yet few consider whether the evidence justifies such restrictions.
He notes that studies demonstrate that dietary cholesterol increases both LDL and HDL cholesterol with essentially no change in the important LDL: HDL cholesterol ratio.
For example, the addition of 100 mg cholesterol per day to the diet increases LDL cholesterol by 1.9 mg/dL, but that is accompanied by a 0.4 mg/dL increase in HDL cholesterol.
This, on average, means that the LDL: HDL ratio change per 100 mg/day change in dietary cholesterol is from 2.60 to 2.61, which is likely not even statistically significant and would probably have no influence on heart disease risk.
This helps to "???explain the epidemiological studies showing that dietary cholesterol is not related to coronary heart disease incidence or mortality," concludes Dr. McNamara.
The Egg's Role in the Current American Diet
Despite the decline in egg consumption, they still make "???important nutritional contributions to the American diet," according to Dr. Won O. Song, PhD, and Jean M. Kerver, MS, of the Food and Nutrition Database Research Center, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University. They explored this issue during their presentation entitled, "Nutritional Contribution of Eggs to American Diets.???
The researchers used data from the most recent National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES III, 1988-94) to compare the nutritional intake of diets that contained eggs with those that did not.
Nutrient intake, egg intake, socio-demographic data and blood cholesterol levels of over 27,000 subjects were grouped according to the occurrence and frequency of egg consumption.
Daily nutrient intake of people consuming eggs was significantly greater than non-egg eaters for all nutrients studied, except dietary fiber and vitamin B6. BOLD4
In the egg group, eggs contributed < 10 percent of the daily intake of:
Total energy
Vitamin B6
10 percent to 20 percent of:
Folate
Total, Saturated and Polyunsaturated Fat
20 percent to 30 percent of:
Vitamin A
Vitamin E
Vitamin B12
Non-egg eaters had higher rates of inadequate intake for:
Vitamin B12 (10 percent vs. 21percent)
Vitamin A (16 percent vs. 21 percent)
Vitamin E (14 percent vs. 22 percent)
Vitamin C (15 percent vs. 20 percent)
They also note that dietary cholesterol was not related to serum cholesterol concentration. As a matter of fact, people who reported eating four eggs a week had a significantly lower mean serum cholesterol concentration than those who reported eating one egg a week. (193 mg/dL vs. 197 mg/dL).
The authors conclude that eggs make "???important nutritional contributions to the American diet."