Looking at the nutritional facts on an egg carton, I see that one medium sized egg satisfies 71% of the daily nutritional requirements for cholesterol. Many bodybuilders eat up to a dozen of eggs per day, putting them well over the suggested amount of cholesterol. For example, Jay Cutler eats 2 whole eggs and 10 egg whites for breakfast. This puts him at 142% the suggested cholesterol, if we're being conservative and assuming most of the cholesterol is in the yolk. His 4 other meals throughout the day will put him even more over the limit. If you're an active person like Jay Cutler, can you safely consume more than the suggested daily requirements for cholesterol without damaging the heart? Does exercising flush out cholesterol at many magnitudes faster than being sedentary?
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Recent research has moved away from total cholesterol counts to pay attention to good HDL, neutral LDL, bad LDL and triglycerides. It has been found that some foods with high cholesterol raise the total cholesterol number, but they do it in ways that are not bad (raising large LDL and HDL). Other foods with low or no cholesterol (sugars), raise the bad LDL cholesterol and suppress HDL. But, your question centers on eggs, so here is an abstract from 2006: Dietary cholesterol provided by eggs and plasma lipoproteins in healthy populations Fernandez, Maria Luz The lack of connection between heart disease and egg intake could partially be explained by the fact that dietary cholesterol increases the concentrations of both circulating LDL and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in those individuals who experience an increase in plasma cholesterol following egg consumption (hyperresponders). It is also important to note that 70% of the population experiences a mild increase or no alterations in plasma cholesterol concentrations when challenged with high amounts of dietary cholesterol (hyporesponders). Egg intake has been shown to promote the formation of large LDL, in addition to shifting individuals from the LDL pattern B to pattern A, which is less atherogenic. It is important to note that the end goal is not cholesterol numbers, but heart disease avoidance. The first sentence in that abstract tells the tale: there is not a connection between eggs and heart disease. There is an abundance of research showing that exercise improves your cholesterol profile. Here is the first result I got on google scholar: http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=3498824 |
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I can't name sources or studies, but I believe the warnings about dietary cholesterol are obsolete. Cholesterol in your diet has little effect on cholesterol in your blood. Other factors like carbs in your diet, exercise and your genes do have an effect, so a physically active person should have lower cholesterol. |
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