While I wouldn't eat more than a few cooked eggs per day, a few years ago I had 12-18 raw eggs per day in shakes, and after several months of doing so had my blood checked and was told the only unusual thing was high levels of good cholesterol. Currently I average closer to 2-3 dozen eggs per week, mostly in shakes and some boiled. If I felt a need for more protein I'd feel perfectly comfortable adding a dozen raw eggs to my daily diet again.
Interesting. I still wouldn't risk eating that many eggs a week. Moderation is always a good thing.
I also agree, moderation is a good thing. I would like to share 2 things with you. First,
a post with some beautiful pictures of Kalahari's Bushmen eating large ostrich eggs. I don't think they are worried about the HIGH cholesterol content of those eggs. Second, there is an observational portuguese study (
"Gordura alimentar e risco de acidente vascular cerebral isquémico no Norte de Portugal") that associates higher cholesterol intakes (and, by the way, higher fat and higher saturated fat intakes) to a significant LOWER risk of Ischemich Stroke (in portuguese, "AVC-acidente vascular cerebral"). They found higher quartiles of cholesterol intake to be "an independent protective factor" for man and women, but even more for women. Typical higher intakes were 350-400 mg of cholesterol, which is about 2 eggs/day. I don't see why eating these 2 eggs, or perhaps even 3 or 4 eggs/day, on a regular basis would do any harm.
DIETARY FAT AND ISCHEMIC STROKE RISK in Northern Portugal
Introduction: A few international studies suggest an inverse association of the intakeof fat with risk of ischemic stroke. On the contrary of coronary heart disease, only 10% a 15% of ischemic strokes are associated to large vessels atherosclerosis. This suggests different mechanisms for these two pathologies. So, we design a study whose aim is to quantify the ischemic stroke risk associated to dietary fat. Participants and Methods: A case-control study, that included two hundred ninety seven individuals of both sexes, hospitalized in the S. João Hospital in Oporto, with a first episode of ischemic stroke. Six hundred and seventy one controls of both sexes were also evaluated, selected by random digit dialling. The target population was Caucasian adults aged 44 years or older, living in the area served by the above named hospital, without cognitive abnormalities and who had not changed their dietary habits in the past year. The information was obtained by a structured questionnaire, byinterview that included socio-demographic, medical and behavioural aspects (physicalactivity, tobacco use, food habits). Food intake in the past year was evaluated by avalidated, semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the relative risk (odds ratio) and their 95% confidence intervals, with separate models fitted for men and women. Results: Lipids accounted for less than 30% of the total energy and less than 10% were saturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids but the cholesterol ingestion in men were higher than 300mg. The increasing quartiles of total lipids, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated fatty acids and cholesterol were independent protective risk factors. However, the intake of trans fatty acids increases the risk. Intake of oleic and linolenic fatty acids only had significant protection in women while intake of all n-3 fatty acids, dodecohexanoic acid in particular, had a significant protective effect in both sexes. All the n-6 fatty acids and araquidonic fatty acids also had an inverse association in women but they showed a tendency to be directly associated with ischemic stroke in men. Conclusion: The total intakes of fat, saturated fat, monounsaturated fat and poly-unsaturated fat were associated with reduced risk of ischemic stroke of both sexes.
What would happen to your blood lipids if, for example, you would consume 25 (twenty five) eggs/day during 15 consecutive years?
Two dozen eggs please … hold the bacon - report on an elderly man who eats 25 eggs a day and yet maintains a normal cholesterol
An elderly man with a mammoth appetite for eggs serves as an extreme example that some people can eat large amounts of cholesterol-laden foods without harming their health.
In the March 28 NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE, gastroenterologist Fred Kern Jr. of the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver describes an 88-year-old retirement-home resident who has consumed an average of 25 eggs daily for more than 15 years — yet maintains normal levels of blood cholesterol. The man, diagnosed with a compulsive eating disorder, keeps a running tally of the two dozen softboiled eggs he methodically ingests throughout the day. He eats an otherwise normal diet and is of average weight.
Kern says the man’s body has "extremely efficient compensatory mechanisms" that allow him to cope with the quantity of cholesterol he consumes. Not only do his intestines absorb only 18 percent of the cholesterol he ingests–50 to 60 percent is more normal — but his liver also produces twice the normal level of the acids, breakdown products of cholesterol.
Margaret Flynn, a clinical dietician at the University of Missouri in Columbia, says the man’s healthy cholesterol level is not surprising. "All of the studies we have done showed no effect [on blood cholesterol] of high egg consumption in a normal diet," she told SCIENCE NEWS.
1991 Science Service, Inc.
2004 Gale Group
Edited by oprimitivo, 29 October 2009 - 12:49 AM.
