Can eating eggs make your heart healthier?
Consumption of up to Three Eggs per Day Increases Dietary Cholesterol and Choline while Plasma LDL Cholesterol and Trimethylamine N‐oxide Concentrations Are Not Increased in a Young, Healthy Population
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
LDL cholesterol dropped 10.9% with just one egg/day, but didn’t drop further with two or three eggs.
Most assume more cholesterol intake = higher LDL, but here, the biggest benefit came from the smallest dose—suggesting a plateau effect that defies linear expectations.
Practical Takeaways
If you're a healthy young adult, eat 1 egg per day for the biggest LDL-lowering benefit, and feel confident eating up to 3 without harming your heart markers.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
LDL cholesterol dropped 10.9% with just one egg/day, but didn’t drop further with two or three eggs.
Most assume more cholesterol intake = higher LDL, but here, the biggest benefit came from the smallest dose—suggesting a plateau effect that defies linear expectations.
Practical Takeaways
If you're a healthy young adult, eat 1 egg per day for the biggest LDL-lowering benefit, and feel confident eating up to 3 without harming your heart markers.
Publication
Journal
The FASEB Journal
Year
2017
Authors
Bruno S. Lemos, Diana M. DiMarco, Amanda Missimer, A. Murillo, O. Malysheva, M. Caudill, C. Blesso, M. Fernandez
Related Content
Claims (6)
Eating foods that contain cholesterol—like eggs or shrimp—won't make a healthy person more likely to get heart disease.
Eating up to three eggs a day for a month might help lower bad cholesterol and raise good cholesterol in healthy young adults, without making them gain weight or increasing a chemical linked to heart disease — which could be good for their heart health.
Eating one to three eggs a day for a month can raise your body's choline levels in a safe way — more eggs mean higher levels, but not so high that it becomes harmful.
Eating up to three eggs a day for a month doesn't seem to raise levels of a blood chemical linked to heart disease, even though eggs contain a nutrient called choline. This suggests that the choline in eggs doesn't turn into that harmful chemical in healthy young people.
Eating one to three eggs a day for a month might help improve your heart health by lowering the bad cholesterol relative to the good cholesterol, even if your overall cholesterol and weight don’t change.