Dr Michelle Dickinson: nanotechnologist on the new study revealing eggs don't scramble cholesterol

For years, eggs have been breakfast’s most controversial ingredient. Despite being packed with protein and essential nutrients, they’ve carried the weight of dietary guidelines that linked them to high cholesterol and an increased risk of heart disease. But a new study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has cracked that myth wide open. The world-first study investigated the independent effects of dietary cholesterol and saturated fat on LDL cholesterol levels. The results: it’s not the cholesterol in eggs that’s the problem, it’s the saturated fat in other parts of our diet, like bacon and sausages. 

In this controlled trial, researchers assigned participants to diets with varying combinations of cholesterol and saturated fat. In one group, participants consumed two eggs per day as part of a high-cholesterol but low-saturated-fat diet. In another, participants ate high-saturated-fat, low-cholesterol meals. A third group consumed both high saturated fat and high cholesterol. 

What they found was surprising: LDL cholesterol only rose in diets high in saturated fat regardless of dietary cholesterol intake. But when cholesterol came from eggs in the absence of excess saturated fat, LDL levels actually dropped slightly. 

This is an important finding because it challenges long-held assumptions in nutritional science. For decades, dietary cholesterol (often from eggs) was lumped in with saturated fats as a heart health hazard. But as this study demonstrates, the two have very different effects on the body. 

Eggs contain around 186 mg of cholesterol per yolk, which historically raised alarms. However, they are very low in saturated fat (about 1.6 grams per large egg). Saturated fats found in processed meats, butter, and fried foods are the true drivers of increased LDL cholesterol, which is strongly associated with cardiovascular disease. 

The study reaffirms a growing body of evidence that dietary cholesterol has minimal impact on blood cholesterol in most people, especially when consumed as part of a healthy, balanced diet. 

The key takeaway isn’t just that eggs are safe, it’s that context matters. A couple of eggs at breakfast is fine. A couple of eggs alongside bacon, sausages, and buttered toast? Not so much. It’s the overall pattern of your diet, not individual foods, that makes the biggest difference to your heart health. 

So feel free to enjoy your poached, scrambled, or sunny-side-up eggs. Just remember: it’s the saturated fat, not the eggs, that’s more likely to scramble your cholesterol.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
I don't know how you like to start the day,
but I love to start the day with an egg.
And of course, you know, eggs have a good roputation.
Sometimes they get a bit of a bad reputation when
it comes to high cholesterol. But doctor Michelle de Consider
is with us, and I think you've got some pretty
good news for me when it comes to us ance
study of.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
The week and the eggs good news for egg love us.
Poor eggs, they just get bitterfore gosh, you can't go
pass an eggs start the day. So this is new
research published in the Journal of the American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition. And I don't know where the advice came from,
but I know that my parents gave me this advice,
which is, oh, don't eat too many eggs because they're

(00:46):
high in cholesterol, and as if that's going to increase
your cholesterol. And so I think a lot of us
have avoided eating eggs all the time because I'm like, oh,
maybe the oaks to a hand cholesterol. Maybe it's going to.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
I'm going to preturn that I was a heare of
the curve, and I was an early adopter, and you know,
my thinking was really advanced here, and I just paid
no attention to all there.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Well, if you've been avoiding eggs because you're about your class,
it's good news. You can eat all the eggs that
you want. Well, at least in this study, you can
eat two eggs a day for five days a week,
which is a lot of eggs. So this study investigated
the independent effects of dietary cholesterol and saturated fat on
LDL cholesterol levels, which is the ones that we measure
in our blood. And the results say that it's not

(01:26):
the cholesterol in the eggs that's the problem. It's the
saturated fat in the other parts of our diet, like
the bacon and the sausages that you tend to have
around your eggs. So they basically took some volunteers sixty
one adults, and they split them into three groups and
they put them on a five week dit. One of
the diets was high cholesterol, high saturated fat, but they
could only eat one egg a week. One of the

(01:47):
diets was high cholesterol, low saturated fat, but they got
two eggs a day every day, and then they had
an egg free diet, which is low cholesterol, high saturated fat,
but sadly no eggs. And what they found actually is
what we all wanted to hear, which is two eggs
a day, five days a week, actually improved cholesterol levels
even though the egg is high in cholesterol. And what, yeah, like, well,

(02:12):
how does that work? How does something high in cholesterol
actually reduce your bodies cholesterol levels? And what they found
is that it's not about the cholesterol that you eat.
So eggs have about one hundred and sixty one hundred
and eighty milligrams of cholesterol per yolk, which is why
people raise alarms about it, but eggs are very low
and saturated fat, and saturated fats actually are the things

(02:35):
found in process meat. Butter fried foods are actually what
they found to be the driver of increase LDL cholesterol.
So it's not about the cholesterol that you eat that
raises your cholesterol. It's about the saturated fat that you
eat that raises cholesterol. And because we're only just learning
about this previously, people said, well, obviously if you eat
more cholesterol, your cholesterol will go up. Not true, thankfully.

(02:59):
So basically this study said you can eat couple of
eggs to day, it's totally fine. But if you can
to eat your couple of eggs around bacon, sausages and
butter toast, then it's not fine. So if you are
worried about cholesterol, eat your eggs. Don't stress about it,
even though they are a high cholesterol product, but try
and cut down your saturated fat and that's going to
help with you show cholesterol. So basically, eggs are off
the hook. If you're ever feeling guilty of some dietary

(03:21):
advice from the past said only eggs, don't listen to
it anymore. New science are showing that eggs are good.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
It is really amazing though the and I don't yeah,
maybe myths isn't quite the right word, but the myths
around food that we're told which can last for decades
and decades until find someone goes hang on a minute.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
Totally and it's inter generation from because yeah, my knowledge
of high cholesterol and eggs came from my parents who
were told by I don't know who, some food pyramids.
So yeah, basically, eat your eggs, enjoy them.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to news talks. It'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio