How Healthy Are Eggs?

To many nutrition experts, eggs are golden — one of the most accessible and affordable protein sources available.

And while the “affordable” part may currently be up for debate as 
bird flu drives up the prices , experts point out that eggs are still cheaper than many lean meats and fresh fish.

Plus, they’re versatile, portable (when hard-boiled) and an easy lift for anyone new to cooking.

Here’s what we know about them nutritionally, plus some favorite recipes from 
New York Times Cooking .

They’re high in cholesterol — but not the kind that harms your health.

When Dr. Martha Gulati, the director of preventive cardiology at the Cedars-Sinai Smidt Heart Institute, sees patients with high cholesterol, they often ask, “Can I eat eggs?”

It’s a fair question. 
One egg contains 207 milligrams of dietary cholesterol, which is about three times more than you’d get from a sausage link .

But the cholesterol in eggs probably won’t increase your risk of heart attack and stroke. That’s because 
dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol aren’t the same, Dr. Gulati said. Blood cholesterol — specifically 
low-density lipoprotein , or LDL — is what causes the dangerous plaque accumulation in your arteries and veins.

Some blood cholesterol comes from dietary cholesterol, but far more comes from your own liver, she said. Your liver makes more LDL when you eat excess saturated fat. But eggs (unlike sausages) aren’t very fatty. One egg contains just 1.6 grams of saturated fat.

“Of all the things I worry about people eating, eggs really aren’t that bad,” Dr. Gulati said.

The scientific community used to be more divided about dietary cholesterol risks, said Dr. Philip Greenland, a professor of cardiology and preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. But the 
Dietary Guidelines for Americans stopped including daily dietary cholesterol limits in 2015, and, in 2019, the American Heart Association 
published an advisory saying dietary cholesterol is not a major concern for heart disease.

That doesn’t mean people should eat eggs in excess, Dr. Greenland said. Studies that have shown eggs don’t increase blood cholesterol mostly focused on moderate egg consumption — think one egg per day or two every other day, he said.