Does Eating Egg Yolk Increase Your Cholesterol?

We all know that eggs are tasty and have lots of health benefits. We were told that eating egg yolks would increase our blood cholesterol levels, due to its high cholesterol content. Yes egg yolks are high in cholesterol, but dietary cholesterol doesn’t directly affect blood cholesterol levels.

So the question is, are egg yolks the cholesterol enemy?

The link between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol:

Our liver is responsible for making cholesterol out of saturated and trans fats, but not dietary cholesterol. Cholesterol is an important substance that our bodies need, when we don’t get enough cholesterol from food, our liver will start making its own cholesterol. Blood cholesterol and dietary cholesterol are two different things. In other word, consuming cholesterol from food will not increase your blood cholesterol levels.

There’s a small number of people who’s their dietary cholesterol intake will raise their blood cholesterol, these are called “hyper responders”, this’s related to genetics.

A study compared the consumption of a whole egg and a free-yolk egg; they’ve found that people who ate the whole egg had higher HDL “good cholesterol” and lower LDL “bad cholesterol” than the free-yolk egg group.

Just to note, eating eggs might increase cardiovascular disease risk (heart diseases) in diabetics.

Health benefits of egg yolk:

The egg yolk is rich in micronutrients like folate, selenium, Vitamin B12, phosphorous, pantothenic acid, riboflavin, Vitamin D, and Vitamin A. It has also some amounts of protein and fats. Some hens are fed with Omega-3 supplements to increase the Omega-3 fats in egg, so you might increase your Omega-3 intake by eating whole eggs.

Egg yolk might be beneficial for eye and skin health, due to its high Vitamin A content.

To get the maximum benefits of eggs, try eating them with lots of vegetables and whole grains, which increases your dietary fiber intake. Try not to eat your eggs with high saturated fat foods like butter, bacon, sausage, etc. because these kinds of fats will raise your blood cholesterol levels not the egg yolk per se.

Sources:

Dr. Axe. (2019). Egg Nutrition Facts, Health Benefits and Risks - Dr. Axe.

Harvard Health. (2019). Are eggs risky for heart health? - Harvard Health.

The Heart Foundation. (2019). Eggs.

WebMD. (2019). Are Eggs the Cholesterol Enemy Again?.

Healthline. (2019). Why Dietary Cholesterol Does Not Matter (For Most People).