Eggs and Cholesterol Controversy

Demonstration of the highly positive correlation between blood cholestrol levels and heart disease has made consumers wary of the fats in meat, milk and eggs. The egg, as perhaps the single largest common source of cholesterol, has been cited by many members of the medical and scientific world as a food contributing to heart disease. In light of decreasing per capita egg consumption and continuing dietary egg cholesterol controversy, many researchers have focused their efforts on egg nutrition. The results reported, however, are often contradictory. In spite of the disputable scientific evidence, the egg has been labelled (erroneously) as a highly cholesterogenic food. The objective of this presentation is to present a general picture of the problem and discuss our laboratory findings relevant to the problem. An isotope technique was utilized to incorporate $^{14}C$-cholesterol into egg yolk lipoproteins and study the metabolic fate of dietary ovo-cholesterol in rats. Two hundred and fifty micro-curies of 4-$^{14}C$-cholesterol, emulsified in corn oil, were orally administered to five Single Comb White Leghorn laying hens. Eggs were collected, hard-boiled, and the hot dried egg yolk powder (HEY) was prepared. Total radioactivity excreted via feces was determined. The rat groups fed egg yolk powder excreted more than 95% of the ingested ovo-cholesterol, whereas the rat chow group excreted only 47%. No difference was observed between HEY and CEY treatments. Therefore, an unknown lipid factor present in egg folk accelerates cholesterol turnover rate and excretion via feces.