19/08/2025
For years, eggs have been caught in a cholesterol controversy, leaving many unsure about how many to eat. Recent high-quality studies are helping clear the confusion.
No increased overall cardiovascular risk:
- [ ] A recent RCT involving 61 healthy adults found that eating two eggs daily as part of a low-saturated-fat diet for five weeks actually lowered LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, and ApoB—suggesting that saturated fat, not egg cholesterol, is the main driver of harmful lipid changes.
- [ ] Supporting finding unraveled by another study of around 2 dozen cohorts (1.4 million people) showed that eating more than one egg per day was not linked to increased CVD risk and was associated with an 11% lower risk of coronary artery disease (PMID: 32653422). Another study in 70-year-old adults reported 15% lower risk of all-cause mortality and a 29% lower risk of CVD-related deaths with 1-6 eggs/week intake.
Regional nuance matters:
- [ ] U.S. and European data (27K people) suggest that egg consumption with a high cholesterol / saturated fat diet was associated with slightly higher CVD mortality risk in the U.S. compared to European cohorts, but no such association was observed for Asian populations.
- [ ] In fact, in a Chinese study (20k cohort size), moderate egg intake (3–6/week) correlated with a ~22% lower CVD risk, and hypertension incidence, versus non-consumers (PMID: 35168825).
Eggs can raise LDL levels in people with familial hypercholesterolemia, a genetic condition of high LDL cholesterol that affects ~1.3M people in the U.S. Also, people with high cholesterol levels are advised to limit egg intake to 4-5/week, with sticking mainly to egg white, as yolk contains most fats, and cholesterol.
TL;DR: For most healthy people, moderate egg consumption—especially within a balanced, low-saturated-fat diet—appears heart-safe and may even offer protective benefits.
Sources-
PMID: 32653422 | PMID: 35168825
https://www.health.com/research-shows-eggs-dont-raise-cholesterol-what-does-11777986
