How many eggs per day is safe to consume?

Egg is for sure one of the best superfoods we can find in nature. In order to simply understand its high nutrient value, just imagine that a whole egg contains all the essential nutrients to turn a single cell into an entire baby chicken. However, there is a common belief that you must not consume too many whole eggs since the yolks are high in cholesterol and cholesterol is bad, right? Well, not exactly.

First of all, cholesterol is very important for our body since it is an essential part of every single cell membrane. It is also used to produce steroid hormones such as testosterone, estrogen and cortisol. Our body needs cholesterol so much that it has developed its own way to produce it through the liver, so that there is always enough amount available.

Cholesterol is divided into 2 categories the HDL (High Density Lipoprotein) which is the "good cholesterol" and the LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein) which is the "bad cholesterol". Studies have shown that, by consuming 1-3 whole eggs per day, HDL good cholesterol goes up whereas LDL bad cholesterol isn't affected (1,2).

The reason why cholesterol levels will not jump sky high after consuming whole eggs every day, is simply because the liver will produce less cholesterol in order to balance the available amount in the body. So basically, the more cholesterol high foods you consume the less cholesterol your liver will produce (3,4).

Studies have also shown that people with diabetes may increase their risk of heart disease by eating more than 1 egg per day (5). However, overall diet quality is far more important to heart health than the number of eggs you consume every day.

Unfortunately, there are no studies where people are fed more than 3 eggs per day, in order to figure out if that would have a negative impact on health, but most likely it wouldn't. There is a case study of an 88 year old man who consumed 25 eggs per day and was in very good health and had normal cholesterol levels. Of course, a study of an individual doesn't prove anything, but this is kind of an interesting study nonetheless (6).

To conclude, the science is clear that up to 3 whole eggs per day are perfectly safe for healthy people who are trying to stay healthy. So, the myth of egg yolks increasing cholesterol levels is totally busted.

Sources:

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23021013

2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8120521

3. http://atvb.ahajournals.org/content/16/10/1222.long

4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC24942/

5. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/189529

6. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199103283241306