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- A new report published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that eating up to one egg a day, and consuming a moderate amount of dietary cholesterol, does not increase your risk of stroke.
- The report looked at the health habits of 1,950 Finnish men aged 42 to 60.
- The study found that the men who ate less than two eggs a week were at no higher risk of stroke than those who ate more than six.
- There was also no increased risk in carriers of the APoE4 phenotype, who absorb cholesterol more effectively.
- Where the egg is from, and how it’s cooked, matters. Scroll down for guidelines on picking healthy eggs.
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Another week, another study scrutinizing the safety of eggs. This time, the news is good: Eggs, and dietary cholesterol, do not increase your risk of stroke.
The report, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, looked at the health habits of 1,950 Finnish men aged 42 to 60. During a 21-year followup, 217 of the men had strokes.
The study found that the men who ate less than two eggs a week were at no higher risk of stroke than those who ate more than six. The same was true for dietary cholesterol. Men who consumed 333 milligrams of cholesterol a day saw no difference in risk than those who had more than 459 milligrams a day. One large egg has 186 milligrams of cholesterol, according to the USDA’s National Nutrient Database.
There was also no increased risk in carriers of the APoE4 phenotype, who absorb cholesterol more effectively[ref url=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11726725″].
Related: New Study Claims Eggs Causes Heart Disease. Here’s What it Gets Wrong
How to pick healthy eggs
Eggs are a big part of the Bulletproof Diet. They’re loaded with vitamin D, protein, choline, omega-3s, and more. But where your egg comes from, and how you cook it, matters. Follow these guidelines to get the most out of your next scramble:
- Choose pastured eggs: Pastured eggs come from happy chickens, who spend their lives outside as nature intended, and not in tiny, overcrowded cages. Animal welfare is important. Not only that, but eggs from pasture-raised chickens are also more nutritious, and have higher levels of vitamin A, vitamin E, and omega-3s.[ref url=”https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/free-range-eggs-zmaz07onzgoe”]
- Short cooking time: Don’t be tempted to order that egg-white omelette — most of the nutrients are in the yolk. When cooking, make sure to keep the yolk soft, to keep the fat from oxidizing (getting damaged). Poaching an egg in water is the best option. Or mix a raw yolk into your Bulletproof Coffee or smoothie.
Read next: Everything You Know About Cholesterol Is Wrong
Around forty years ago, I bought into the mainstream perception that dietary animal fat was bad, and that animal source foods in general (especially red meat) should be consumed sparingly, if at all. Most of the propaganda in the health food stores I frequented in those days were rife with books and pamphlets on the many lofty virtues of vegetarianism and veganism as some established ideal.
The vegetarian and vegan communities seem to be under the impression that our species has evolved from an herbivorous line, and that leaves and bananas are meant to be our most natural dietary staple. Conversely, nowadays meat eating is popularly perceived by many as being more of a modern-day aberration (or abomination, according to the most passionate proponents of the vegan diet).
Some attribute cooking as the practice that made us human. Others say it was our increased consumption of starchy roots and tubers (much less grains or legumes) along the way. The most impactful practice that led to the brain architecture and capacity that we have today was our consistent consumption of the dietary fat of animals.
Around 2 million years ago, we first emerged as the genus, ‘Homo’, standing fully upright and having by then established a fully hunting-based dietary economy.[ref url=”https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0062174″][ref url=”https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/%28SICI%291520-6505%281999%298%3A1%3C11%3A%3AAID-EVAN6%3E3.0.CO%3B2-M”] By this time, our brains were already double to triple that of our closest primate ancestor (the chimpanzee). From there, our hominid brain nearly doubled again by roughly 200,000 years ago when we finally emerged as Homo sapiens for the first time.[ref url=”https://www.jstor.org/stable/41464021?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents”]
The cataclysmic birth of the Holocene tragically led to the sudden mass extinction of more than half of the planet’s megafauna species (particularly the largest and fattiest of them), leaving us with much smaller, leaner prey that was much more fleet of foot. Even so, our Neolithic hunting ancestors never lost their preference for animal fat as their most coveted dietary staple.
An adult human brain utilizes an estimated 20-30% of our total human caloric energy demand,[ref url=”https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550413111004207″] making it very, very expensive in energy terms. A baby’s brain requires closer to 85% of total energy, the brains of young children require 45-50% of total energy. For perspective, consider that the brains of other primates use no more than about 8% of their total caloric energy demands.
Is $2 billion overkill? Naturally, the defense thinks so, and they’ve already stated that they plan to appeal it. Chances are, the plaintiffs knew they would appeal it, and there’s a good chance the jury submitted their numbers knowing full well the defense would appeal without batting an eye.