Can you eat more eggs without hurting your heart?
Associations of Changes in Blood Lipid Concentrations with Changes in Dietary Cholesterol Intake in the Context of a Healthy Low-Carbohydrate Weight Loss Diet: A Secondary Analysis of the DIETFITS Trial
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Dietary cholesterol intake jumped 43% (322 mg to 460 mg/day) with no rise in LDL cholesterol.
For decades, medical guidelines assumed dietary cholesterol directly raised blood cholesterol. This study shows that in a low-carb context, that link vanishes—even at levels far above the old limit.
Practical Takeaways
Swap your morning sugary cereal or toast for 2 eggs and avocado if you're on a low-carb diet.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Dietary cholesterol intake jumped 43% (322 mg to 460 mg/day) with no rise in LDL cholesterol.
For decades, medical guidelines assumed dietary cholesterol directly raised blood cholesterol. This study shows that in a low-carb context, that link vanishes—even at levels far above the old limit.
Practical Takeaways
Swap your morning sugary cereal or toast for 2 eggs and avocado if you're on a low-carb diet.
Publication
Journal
Nutrients
Year
2021
Authors
M. Vergara, Michelle E. Hauser, L. Aronica, J. Rigdon, Priya Fielding‐Singh, Cynthia W. Shih, C. Gardner
Related Content
Claims (6)
If you're overweight and eating a low-carb diet, swapping out bread and sugar for eggs will bump up your cholesterol intake from food—but your blood fats won't get worse after a year.
People who are overweight and eat a low-carb diet end up eating more cholesterol over time—way more than the old health guidelines recommended—but their bad and good cholesterol levels, and triglycerides, didn’t get worse. This suggests that eating more cholesterol might not hurt your heart like we used to think.
Even if you eat more eggs or other cholesterol-rich foods while on a low-carb diet, your triglyceride levels don’t seem to go up — probably because cutting out sugary and starchy foods balances things out.
Eating foods that contain cholesterol—like eggs or shrimp—won't make a healthy person more likely to get heart disease.
If you're overweight and eating a low-carb diet to lose weight, eating more cholesterol-rich foods like eggs or shrimp won't noticeably raise your bad cholesterol or lower your good cholesterol — at least not over a year.