There are several contributing factors to heart issues such as atherosclerosis – including smoking, drinking too much alcohol and having very high blood pressure.
Heart health is an urgent global concern with cardiovascular diseases claiming nearly 20 million lives annually.
In the UK, heart-related illnesses account for roughly one in four deaths. A significant contributor to heart disease is the accumulation of fatty substances within arteries, hindering or stopping blood flow.
As these deposits thicken artery walls over time, a condition known as atherosclerosis develops. Several lifestyle choices contribute to this, such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and high blood pressure.
Elevated cholesterol levels also play a pivotal role, characterized by an abundance of cholesterol in the bloodstream. Although diet is commonly linked to cholesterol, particularly food rich in saturated fats, eggs have long been under scrutiny for their supposed effect on cholesterol numbers.
Yet, “natural heart doctor” and cardiologist Jack Wolfson advises against fearing egg consumption. In a TikTok video that’s sparked conversation titled “Things that I would never do as a cardiologist”, he encourages his 460,000+ followers to incorporate eggs into their diets, stressing: “Number one, tell people to avoid eggs.”
“Big, big, big mistake. Eggs are a cocoon for a baby chicken, and like a multivitamin, eggs are phenomenally healthy. Don’t worry about the cholesterol in eggs.”
His perspective is echoed by British Heart Foundation dietitian Victoria Taylor, who sheds light on the previously held belief regarding egg consumption. Victoria said: “In the past it was thought that people should limit the number of eggs they eat to three to four a week because they contain cholesterol – It is the egg yolks that have the cholesterol.
“However, the misconceptions around eggs and cholesterol largely stemmed from incorrect conclusions drawn from early research that dietary cholesterol contributed to raised blood cholesterol levels.”
“Recent research has also shown that moderate egg consumption – up to one a day – does not increase heart disease risk in healthy individuals and can be part of a healthy diet. “As such, since about 2000, major world and UK health organisations, including us and the Department of Health, changed their advice on eggs and there is now no recommended limit on how many eggs people should eat, as long as you eat a varied diet.”
The Mayo Clinic, in the US, also states that eating up to seven eggs a week is safe. However, Victoria warned that people with familial hypercholesterolaemia (high cholesterol that is inherited), should eat no more than three or four eggs a week.
She also advised “paying attention” to how your eggs are cooked and what they are served with as these add-ons could be dangerous to those with high cholesterol.