Eggs have a great nutritional wealth. To have eggs in our diet give us many nutritional profits for our health^1,2,3. However, during the 60’s an overstated fear to cholesterol spread throughout the world owing to the risk to suffer cardiovascular conditions. Egg consumption was significantly reduced in Western countries due to its high content of cholesterol.

Afterwards, many researches about this issue stated that only 20% of people suffer an increase of plasmatic cholesterol after a large intake of dietetic cholesterol. On the one hand, there are other factors that may affect to cholesterolemia such as genetic causes, low or fast intestine transit, sedentary lifestyle and obesity. On the other hand, there are other factors that can help to absorb cholesterol such as fibre intake, phytosterol and other sterols from sea animals².

Results of researches conducted in nutritional epidemiology during the last years showed a low increase in plasmatic cholesterol levels when modifying the intake of dietetic cholesterol^2,4. The largest research carried on epidemiology (118,000 men and women) to analyse the relationship between egg consumption and cardiovascular conditions showed that eating one egg a day had no significant impact in mortality of these processes⁴. The effect of a consumption of 3, 7 and 14 eggs a week was measured in three groups of healthy young people. After five months managing their diet, there were no important differences in plasmatic lipids⁵. Healthy adults were also tested but adding 2 eggs a day. In six weeks the test showed that HDL cholesterol had increased 10%, total cholesterol 4% and the ratio total cholesterol / HDL cholesterol remain the same⁶. On the other hand researches conducted by Kerver et al.⁷ showed that people who ate more than four eggs a week had lower seric cholesterol than people who usually eat one (or less than one) egg a week.

Restrictions in egg consumption and considering eggs as dangerous food owing to cholesterol have not been suggested by comprehensive scientific researches made in this sense the last two decades2. To reduce cardiovascular risk it is more important to fight obesity, to limit the intake of total and saturated fats and to change the lifestyle of Western societies, especially sedentary lifestyle8.

Recent researches report that eggs are also an available source of carotenoids (luteine, zeaxanthene). These antioxidant compounds can help to prevent macular degeneration and to delay the appearance of cataracts⁹.

  

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