Egg Facts- Making informed choices

I came across this when doing a google search...

Myth 2- Eating eggs raises your cholesterol levels.

Truth- Dietary cholesterol found in eggs has little to do with the amount of cholesterol in your body. The confusion can be boiled down to semantics: The same word, "cholesterol," is used to describe two different things. Dietary cholesterol—the fat-like molecules in animal-based foods like eggs—doesn’t greatly affect the amount of cholesterol circulating in your bloodstream. Your body makes its own cholesterol, so it doesn’t need much of the kind you eat. Instead, what fuels your body’s cholesterol-making machine is certain saturated and trans fats.

Eggs contain relatively small amounts of saturated fat. One large egg contains about 1.5 grams saturated fat, a fraction of the amount in the tablespoon of butter many cooks use to cook that egg in. So, cutting eggs out of your diet is a bad idea; they're a rich source of 13 vitamins and minerals.

There is a lot of truth in the above statement, but I feel it gives the wrong impression.

In an attempt to write a new and interesting magazine article a few details may have been left out.

No wonder nutritional info. is so confusing!

The following articles come from MayoClinic.com and a Harvard Study. I like them so much more.

Question
Eggs: Are they good or bad for my cholesterol?

Answer
from Thomas Behrenbeck, M.D.
mayoclinic.com

Chicken eggs are high in cholesterol, and a diet high in cholesterol can contribute to high blood cholesterol levels. However, how much the cholesterol in your diet can increase your blood cholesterol varies from person to person.

When deciding whether to include eggs in your diet, consider the recommended daily limits on cholesterol in your food:

If you are healthy, it's recommended that you limit your dietary cholesterol intake to less than 300 milligrams (mg) a day.

If you have cardiovascular disease, diabetes or a high low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or "bad") blood cholesterol level, you should limit your dietary cholesterol intake to less than 200 mg a day.

One large egg has about 213 mg of cholesterol — all of which is found in the yolk. Therefore, if you eat an egg on a given day, it's important to limit other sources of cholesterol for the rest of that day. Consider substituting servings of vegetables for servings of meat, or avoid high-fat dairy products for that day.

If you like eggs but don't want the extra cholesterol, use only the egg whites. Egg whites contain no cholesterol. You may also use cholesterol-free egg substitutes, which are made with egg whites. If you want to reduce cholesterol in a recipe that calls for eggs, use two egg whites or 1/4 cup (59 milliliters) cholesterol-free egg substitute in place of one whole egg.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Egg Nutrition and Heart Disease : Eggs aren't the dietary demons they're cracked up to be.

Common misconceptions keep many people, especially those worried about heart disease, from eating eggs. The July issue of the Harvard Heart Letter unscrambles the dietary facts and myths about the egg.

Fact: Eggs are a good source of nutrients. One egg contains 6 grams of protein and some healthful unsaturated fats. Eggs are also a good source of choline, which has been linked with preserving memory, and lutein and zeaxanthin, which may protect against vision loss.

Fact: Eggs have a lot of cholesterol. The average large egg contains 212 milligrams of cholesterol. As foods go, that’s quite a bit, rivaled only by single servings of liver, shrimp, and duck meat.

Myth: All that cholesterol goes straight to your bloodstream and then into your arteries. Not so. For most people, only a small amount of the cholesterol in food passes into the blood. Saturated and trans fats have much bigger effects on blood cholesterol levels.

Myth: Eating eggs is bad for your heart. The only large study to look at the impact of egg consumption on heart disease—not on cholesterol levels or other intermediaries—found no connection between the two. In people with diabetes, though, egg-a-day eaters were a bit more likely to have developed heart disease than those who rarely ate eggs.

If you like eggs, eating one a day should be okay, especially if you cut back on saturated and trans fats. Other ways to enjoy eggs without worrying about cholesterol include not eating the yolk, which contains all the cholesterol, or using pourable egg whites or yolk-free egg substitutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Also a point to remember-

One large egg contains about 90 calories, with about 50 of those calories coming from the yolk. Even if you aren't concerned about the cholesterol levels, you may be able to cut back on the calorie content of your food by eating just the egg whites. Or you could consider the option of scrambling one whole egg with a few extra egg whites. This way you keep both your cholesterol and calorie count in check, yet keep the taste you were going for.