For many years, egg yolks have been labelled as harmful mainly because of their high cholesterol content, and many people feared they could trigger heart attacks.
However, recent commentary by gastroenterologists has begun to challenge that belief. Among them is Dr Shubham Vatsya, a senior gastroenterologist and hepatologist at Fortis Vasant Kunj, New Delhi.
Why egg yolks are not harmful for your heart
In a post on Instagram, Dr Vatsya referred to criticism of egg yolks as “one of the biggest nutritional scams.” He explained that up to 80 percent of the cholesterol in our blood comes from our liver, so the cholesterol we eat through food, like egg yolks, has only a small impact on the overall blood cholesterol levels. That dietary cholesterol, he says, “hardly affects” blood cholesterol.
In fact, Dr Vatsya mentioned, several large studies among a population of about 150,000 people have found no increase in the risk of heart attack or stroke in people who eat an egg daily.
The benefits of eating egg yolks
He even proposed that in healthy, non-diabetic, non-hypertensive adults, consumption of as many as three whole eggs a day can be safe, and yolks can actually offer several advantages, such as raising “good” HDL cholesterol, supplying nutrients such as lutein, choline, antioxidants, and key vitamins that promote heart, brain, and liver health.
Besides that, egg yolks also provide Vitamin D, a nutrient many people might be deficient in, as well as B vitamins, that play an important role in energy metabolism.
Why cooking eggs the right way is important
However, experts emphasise how the eggs are prepared can cancel out such benefits. Frying them in butter or heavy oil or eating them with processed meats or foods full of saturated fat may ultimately be harmful for your health.
So, for most healthy individuals, the humble egg yolk is absolutely safe, as long as it is consumed in moderation and cooked sensibly. It is high time people stopped demonising them because whole eggs, as they say, are one of the most nutrient-dense foods available in the market. And also, they are so inexpensive that almost anyone can afford them.
