Can Eating Eggs Contribute to Heart Disease?

You wake up in the morning, heat up the frying pan and crack a couple eggs. In a few minutes, you're enjoying your favorite scrambled egg dish, maybe with a side of grilled asparagus and mushrooms. Sounds pretty good right?

Well, it's better than chowing down on a donut and soda for breakfast. But there's been a long debate about eggs and heart disease that is still unresolved. Are eggs healthy, or are they too high in cholesterol? Can you eat them in moderation? Or should you avoid them all together?

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests eggs are high in cholesterol (about 186 mg per egg), and may raise your risk for heart disease by 6 to 8 percent if you eat three to four eggs a week or more.

But in 30 years of research on egg consumption and heart disease risk, researchers can't really isolate eggs as a cause for heart disease. It may be what people tend to eat with eggs, like bacon and sausage that contribute to high cholesterol and heart disease risk. Can you eat eggs without increasing your risk for high cholesterol and heart disease? Yes. In fact, the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans simply recommends: "Eat as little dietary cholesterol as possible, but there are no specific limits."

And if you're concerned about eating too much cholesterol, but you still enjoy eggs for breakfast, go halfsies...one egg + one egg white. Most of the cholesterol in an egg is found in the yolk, and you'll hardly notice a difference if you do it this way.

Looking for other ways to eat right, control cholesterol and keep your heart healthy? Check out the selection of Low Sodium meals on the MagicKitchen.com menu.