This is how many eggs you can safely eat per week

Whether it be a weekend brunch, a quick dinner or post-workout snack, eating eggs in any form is usually considered a good choice from a diet and health perspective. Indeed, there are many health benefits of adding egg to your diet. Not to mention the incredible array of ways in which you can consume it.

If you already eat eggs regularly as part of your normal diet, ensure that you are following best practices such as to never store your eggs in the fridge door, and to never wash your eggs before cooking due to serious health hazard.

However, there is such a thing as eating too many eggs. In fact, it can be downright dangerous for some people with certain health conditions. As reported by Harvard Health and Healthline, here are some of the problems that could arise if you are over-eating eggs, and how many eggs you can actually safely eat.

Risks of eating too many egg

As per Healthline, eggs are a rich source of beneficial bioactive compounds and disease-fighting nutrients. But the main risks associated with eating too many eggs, comes from the cholesterol content in egg yolks.

Cholesterol contributes to heath diseases, and thus, for some people who are more susceptible to heart issues, it might be advisable to avoid eggs.

As per the report, more rigorous studies are needed to better grasp just how much of an impact eggs could have on blood cholesterol levels.

So, it is impossible to write off egg from any diet due to all the other benefits it brings, since a direct causation of eggs causing heart and health issues have not been established.

As The Washington Post also explains, we need to differentiate between dietary cholesterol, which is the cholesterol already present in a food before you eat it, such as in eggs or shrimp, and the LDL cholesterol or what dieticians refer to as the 'bad' cholesterol, manufactured by the body through saturated fats.

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How many eggs can you safely eat per week?

Just how many eggs are risky for your body will depend on your overall diet, age group as well as activity levels.

Linda Van Horn, professor and chief of the nutrition division in the Department of Preventive Medicine in the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University tells The Washington Post,

Eggs are a wonderful source of dietary protein for someone who is not overweight, has no family history of heart disease or other risk factors.

This changes if you are 55 or older and you have an LDL over 150, have hypertension, are taking a [cholesterol-lowering] statin and are overweight. If you have risk factors, I would have no more than two or three [yolks] a week.

Healthline too states, if you have high LDL cholesterol levels, are overweight, or have a chronic disease like diabetes, or a family history of heart disease, you are advised to eat no more than 1 egg per day or 4–5 eggs per week, while moderating the amount of egg yolk.

Dr. Van Horn continues,

If you have no risk factors, eating four or five egg yolks a week is unlikely to be detrimental, as long as you can eat them without the typical high saturated fat that usually accompanies them, like bacon, sausage or buttered toast.

So if you are healthy adult, it’s safe to eat 4-5 egg yolks a week, but again this depends on how much other cholesterol you consume in your overall diet.

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Sources used:

Harvard Health Publishing: 'How many eggs can I safely eat?'

Healthline: ' Eggs and Cholesterol — How Many Eggs Can You Safely Eat?'

The Washington Post: ' Eating too many eggs can still be risky, but most people don’t have to give them up entirely, experts say'