The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging
Volume 5, Number 3, 2001

Diet and Coronary Heart Disease: Findings from the Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals' Follow-Up Study

F.B. Hu, W.C. Willett

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Cholesterol and eggs

.... To avoid elevations in blood cholesterol and reduce Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) risk, the public has been advised to consume no more than 300 mg cholesterol daily and limit consumption of eggs which contain about 213 mg cholesterol per egg. Surprisingly, there is little direct evidence linking higher egg consumption and incidence of CHD among 117,933 subjects in the NHS and HPFS, we found no evidence of an overall positive association between moderate egg consumption and risk of CHD in either men or women.
The null association of egg consumption with risk of CHD observed in these studies may be somewhat surprising, considering widespread belief that eggs are a major cause of heart disease. One egg contains about 200 mg cholesterol, but also appreciable amounts of protein, unsaturated fats, folate, B vitamins, and minerals. It is conceivable that the small adverse effect caused by cholesterol is counterbalanced by potential beneficial effects of other nutrients.
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