Do Eggs and Monounsaturated Fats Affect Cholesterol Levels?

Yap, both monounsaturated fats and eggs can affect the levels of your cholesterol. But while egg can increase your LDL (bad cholesterol) since it contains cholesterol (especially in the egg yolk), monounsaturated can help lower LDL. Unlike saturated fats, both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are healthy fats. If most of your total fat intake comes from unsaturated fats, it can be great for the health of your heart in long term.

Though egg (particularly for egg yolks – not for egg whites) contains some cholesterol, but the issue of how many you should eat safely per day is still debatable. While the egg yolk is pretty high in cholesterol (about 200 to 300 mg of cholesterol in a large egg), but it is also high in protein.

Furthermore in fact, egg is practical to be storage (has a long refrigerator shelf life), yummy in taste (can be cooked and prepared with a wide range of different ways), and affordable in price. These are some of reasons for why limiting it in the diet is not easy and debatable.

Actually, your body require cholesterol to support some body’s functions. But your body can make its own cholesterol – in other words, it does not require dietary cholesterols.

However, you need to know that foods high in saturated fats play much more contribution than foods high in cholesterol in increasing the levels of your LDL.

Cholesterol in egg yolk  is cholesterol and it can affect your LDL. But many experts say that egg is one of the most nutritious foods that can provide lots of essential nutrients. As long as you eat it in moderation, there should be nothing to worry.

According to the American Heart Association, eating egg not more than one per day is safe.

Below are some helpful tips on how to get the most nutritious nutrients from egg with its lowest cholesterol properties:

1. If you are an individual who love eating it in your daily diet, you can only use egg whites and remove its yolk. Unlike egg yolks, egg whites don’t have any cholesterol. With this idea, you can eat more than 1 egg per day.
2. There are also available eggs that contain less cholesterol. These eggs come from chickens that are fed up with healthy oils like canola oil and fed with vegetarian diet. The lower-cholesterol eggs can contain fewer than 200 mg of cholesterol. They are relatively more expensive in price, but they can be good for your LDL control.
3. Watch on the food labels when you choose egg-food products. For best result, prioritize some that are made with only egg whites.
4. When you eat an egg for your breakfast, make sure to avoid other foods high in cholesterol for the rest of your day.

According to Mayo Clinic, the dietary cholesterol should be not more than 300 mg /day for healthy individuals – and not more than 200 mg /day for people with cardiovascular diseases.

Unlike saturated fats, monounsaturated fats belong to the group of unsaturated fats and they are often considered as ‘healthy fats’. If most of your daily fat intake is unsaturated type, this can be great to help lower or keep your bad cholesterol off.

However to get its most effectiveness, you should not use it in addition to saturated fats.

In other words, if you get plenty of them in your diet but without followed by cutting back on your saturated fats intake, this can be almost useless for your LDL control.

Polyunsaturated fats are another major type of unsaturated fats. Omega-3 fatty acids can be categorized into polyunsaturated fats. These fatty acids are commonly found in certain fish like tuna, salmon, mackerel, etc. They also can be naturally found in olive oil and other healthy oils. See also how much olive oil help in lowering LDL in here!

Where you can find these healthy fats? There are lots of choices you can explore. Some foods that are high in monounsaturated fats also contain polyunsaturated fats. These include canola oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, nuts /peanut oils, nut butters, and avocado.

And since obesity can be a risk factor of increasing LDL, it’s also important to watch on calories of every food that you eat, including for monounsaturated fats.