Cholesterol is used to build cells within your body not inherently bad, and make vitamins and minerals, and hormones. However, cholesterol gets a bad reputation because too much of it can cause build-ups and plague formation within your arteries that affect heart and brain health.
Your body naturally produces cholesterol in the liver and you also consume cholesterol through dietary sources. Your liver makes more cholesterol if you eat foods high in saturated or trans fats.
High cholesterol, specifically LDL cholesterol levels, is associated with increased heart disease risk along with stroke and many other chronic diseases.
Health experts previously recommended consuming no more than 300 mg of dietary cholesterol, but in 2015, this was removed from the dietary guidelines. Now, there is no exact recommendation, but it is suggested that people are mindful of their blood cholesterol levels, so it stays within normal limits.
One large egg contains about 186 mg of cholesterol, all of which is found in the bright yellow yolk. Since one egg has more than half of the previously recommended cholesterol amount, people really started to panic. But with further research, health experts discovered that eggs don’t significantly raise blood cholesterol for most individuals.
After eating eggs, research showed that 70% of the population experienced no changes or a mild increase in blood cholesterol, showing that most of the time dietary cholesterol does not significantly affect blood cholesterol.
In fact, consuming eggs regularly can raise your high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, otherwise known as “good cholesterol.” People with high HDL cholesterol levels are at a lower risk of developing heart disease or stroke, while people with high LDL cholesterol have a higher risk.
Other contributing lifestyle factors to blood cholesterol include overall fat intake profile, specifically trans fat and saturated fat, physical activity, smoking, stress, and alcohol.