Eggs and Cholesterol - Essay Example

Between 25% and 33% of the plasma total cholesterol occurs in high-density lipoprotein, HDL. The link between dietary cholesterol and its effect with regard to CHD has elicited much debate in clinical and nutritional spheres. Research studies from as far as 1913 indicated that feeding animals with cholesterol induced atherogenesis. Recently, research has indicated that dietary cholesterol, such as that obtainable from eggs, has no effect on CHD risk (Harman, Leeds & Griffin 2008). This paper, with support from recent research studies opposes the findings from earlier studies which observed that increased egg consumption increased plasma cholesterol.

Previous research studies argue that the increased intake of dietary cholesterol led to increase in plasma cholesterol. In fact, a literature review by Harman, Leeds and Griffin (2008) indicate that for dietary cholesterol intakes of between 100 and 700 mg per day, there would be a variable increase of between 0.04 and 0.07 mmol/L of plasma cholesterol per every 100 mg of added dietary cholesterol. Truswell (2010) cites research studies in the 1980s which indicated that with an additional of six egg yolks, translating to about 1,500 mg of cholesterol, per day to an average person’s diet, the plasma cholesterol would rise up by an average of 29 mg/100ml.

It would be interesting to note that when this dietary cholesterol was halved, the increase in plasma cholesterol remained almost the same. . this observation, the increased prevalence of obesity in the UK, documented by Harman, Leeds and Griffin (2008) as the fattest European country, has led to increased risk CHD. But even so, reducing cholesterol in patients’ diets has not borne better results when compared to diets with reduced fats or carbohydrates. Of particular concern in this paper is the cholesterol in eggs, which Harman, Leeds and Griffin (2008) compare to that in commercially available and popular low carbohydrate diets.

The consideration of an egg is based on the findings that an increase by three to four eggs a week causes a total plasma cholesterol increase of averagely 0.056mmol/L (McNamara 2000). While reviewing various research studies, Kohlmeier (2012) observed that consuming two eggs per day for six weeks did not affect the plasma total cholesterol in adults. Considering another study conducted in 2006, the scholar found out that among the subjects aged above 60, eating an egg daily for five weeks caused no increase in cholesterol levels in the blood.

In Japan, an inverse correlation was recorded between the consumption of eggs and average total levels of cholesterol in individuals with high and normal baseline plasma cholesterol levels. This observation raises various concerns because in normal circumstances, it would be expected that with increase in dietary cholesterol ingestion, there would be an increase in plasma cholesterol. In a study regarding this debate, Fernandez (2006), who also observed that increase in egg consumption does not increase plasma cholesterol, gives various suggestions for this.

First, the researcher indicates that dietary cholesterol raises the concentration of high-density lipoprotein, HDL and circulating LDL among hyperresponders, that is, individuals whose