I eat at least 8 whole eggs every day, boiled, not fried. The whole egg is much more anabolic and has a higher bv rating than just the white. back when I was Lifeguard's age, I got fertile eggs from the hatcheries for 25 cents a doz, and ate 12-15 per day. Never had a rise in cholesterol after years of doing this, and don't have high cholesterol now.
The biggest problem for some is the calories. The white has about 10; the yolk has about 70 cals. Just about every natural food has things in balance. In an egg, which contains high amounts of cholesterol, there is more than enough lecithin to emulsify excess cholesterol and shuttle it out of the system.
Part of the following material has been paraphrased from Schenker G., Analytical System of Clinical Nutrition.
There is no connection between the cholesterol you eat and the cholesterol in your blood. Dietary cholesterol is irrelevant. Cholesterol is essential for the development of the brain in infancy. It is also vital for preserving brain function in the elderly. Biological membranes and hormones are also dependent upon cholesterol. The liver produces about 2 grams per day of cholesterol just to make sure there is enough. When cholesterol levels go to abnormally high levels it has nothing to do with how much cholesterol you ate, however a low fat high carbohydrate diet can lead to high triglycerides (sugar breaks down into non-medium chain triglycerides). Diets high in sugar and in polyunsaturated fats cause derangement of metabolism and elevated cholesterol levels.
Diederick Grobee, Erasmus University Medical School said cholesterol is essential to make serotonin, the 'feel good' chemical of the brain."
William Castelli, M.D. the former director for the famous Framingham Heart Study notes that people with cholesterol lower than 200 suffer nearly 40% of all heart attacks as well a 200% increased chance of suffering a stroke.
Cholesterol levels lower than 180 are attributed with:
200% increase in stroke
300% increase in liver cancer
200% increase in lung disease
200% increase in depression
200% increase in addictive behavior
Regarding saturated fats...
It is extremely difficult to elevate someone's cholesterol levels by feeding them saturated fat and high cholesterol foods. It can be achieved with intake of carbohydrates however, as mentioned above. One study demonstrated that in order to elevate blood pressre that only high amounts of starches and sugars could do it via insulin response.
Interestingly, decreasing dietary saturated fat has been associated with lowered testosterone levels in athletes. A study in Finland showed that a decrease in the fat content of the diet to just 25% decreased test levels by 15%. The same damaging effects on testosterone levels was achieved by increasing the ration of polyunsaturated fats to saturated fats.
All steroid hormones are built from cholesterol in the cells. The French have the highest intake of saturated fat of any country in the Western World, yet they have nearly the lowest incidence of cardiovascular disease in the world.
A 1997 study by Gillman showed that the more saturated fat you eat the less likely you are to suffer a stroke. The study also found that polyunsaturated fats (which are nowadays touted as the healthy ones) have no protective effect. The study quantified the protective effect of saturated fats--your risk of stroke decreases by 15% for every 3% increase in your saturated fat intake.
Another study was done using elite men and women endurance athletes placed alternately on low fat and high fat diets. On a high saturated fat diet the pateints maintained low body fat, normal weight, normal blood pressure, normal resting heart rate, normal triglycerides and normal cholesterol levels. All their fitness and training parameters were maintained at the elite level. When put on the low fat diet, however it was found that the low fat diet negated many of the beneficial effects that exercise is supposed to produce. The subjects actually suffered lower HDL cholesterol and higher triglyceride levels while on the low fat diet.
References:
1. Grobee, Diederick, et al. "Cholesterol is essential to make serotonin". Associated Press. 1998.
2. Castelli, William. Associated press. 1998.
3. Lieberman, S. et al. "effects of Chromium supplementation on sugar induced elevations in blood pressure & lipid peroxidiation in hypertensive rats," Journal of the American College of nutrition, vol 14, no. 5, Oct, 1995.
4. Hamalainen, E., et al. "Diet and Serum Sex Hormones in Healthy Men." Journal of Steroid Biochemistry. Vol. 20, No. 1, 459-464, 1984.
5. Gillman, et al. Journal of the American Medical Association. Dec 24, 1997.
6. Leddy, et al. Medicine & science in Sports and exercise, vol 29, 1997.
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