Are eggs healthy? What about the cholesterol?

The objection

“Eggs were the villain of every cholesterol scare for decades, and then the advice changed. Heart charities stopped telling people to ration them, and it turns out the cholesterol in an egg barely moves the cholesterol in your blood. They’re cheap and filling and full of protein and choline, so whatever the case for going vegan, eggs look like one of the healthiest things on the plate.”

The answer

The objection is right that saturated fat does more to blood cholesterol than the cholesterol in eggs does [1][2], but egg cholesterol still raises LDL cholesterol a little, and a 2019 study of six US cohorts put the extra heart disease it found in egg eaters down to that cholesterol [1][3]. Pooling those cohorts, 29,615 adults followed for a median of 17.5 years, Zhong et al. (2019) found that each extra half egg a day went with a 6% higher risk of cardiovascular disease (hazard ratio 1.06, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.10) and an 8% higher risk of dying from any cause (1.08, 1.04 to 1.11) [3]. Over the whole follow-up, that half egg went with about one more case of cardiovascular disease for every 100 people, an absolute risk difference of 1.11% [3]. The British Heart Foundation (BHF), reporting the study, said it contradicted current thinking that the cholesterol in food isn’t a cause for concern. UK nutrition guidelines, it noted, recommend eggs as part of a healthy, balanced diet and set no limit on dietary cholesterol [1]. Australia’s Heart Foundation says most people don’t need to limit how many eggs they eat, though it names plant proteins, fish and seafood as the best sources of protein and advises smaller amounts of eggs [2]. Pooled studies from more countries find a smaller link or none, so for most people any extra risk from eggs looks small, while people with diabetes have more reason for caution.

Does the cholesterol in eggs raise your blood cholesterol?

It raises LDL cholesterol a little, and for most people saturated fat matters more. A US large egg of 50 g holds about 186 mg of cholesterol and 1.6 g of saturated fat, by the US Department of Agriculture’s food composition data (2019) [4], and a large egg in the UK is bigger, with about 235 mg of cholesterol, the BHF said in 2019 [1]. In a 2020 meta-analysis of randomised trials in healthy people (Li et al.), eating roughly one to four extra eggs a day for three to twelve weeks raised LDL cholesterol by 8.14 mg/dL (about 0.21 mmol/L) on average (95% CI 4.46 to 11.82 mg/dL) across 13 trials, compared with diets with fewer eggs or none, and the trials of one egg a day found a rise too (8.37 mg/dL, 1.06 to 15.69) [5]. A 2025 umbrella review of meta-analyses (Formisano et al.) also found higher LDL cholesterol with more eggs, alongside a small rise in HDL cholesterol, and graded the evidence for the LDL rise very weak [6]. The American Heart Association’s 2020 science advisory came to a similar view: meta-analyses of trials differ, but most link cholesterol intakes above current average levels with higher total or LDL cholesterol [7].

Australia’s Heart Foundation says the cholesterol in eggs raises blood cholesterol less than foods high in saturated and trans fats do [2], the view the BHF described in 2019 as current thinking [1]. The NHS’s advice on lowering cholesterol is built around eating less saturated fat: it lists meat pies, sausages, fatty meat, butter, lard, ghee, cream and cheese among the foods to cut down on [8]. The American Heart Association advises guidance built on eating patterns such as Mediterranean-style and DASH diets, which are relatively low in cholesterol, because a specific cholesterol target is hard for clinicians and consumers to put into practice [7].

Do eggs raise the risk of heart disease?

Any extra risk looks small, and the pooled studies disagree on whether there is one. In Zhong’s US analysis, the link between eggs and cardiovascular disease disappeared once the cholesterol people ate was taken into account (hazard ratio 0.99, 0.93 to 1.05), while each extra 300 mg of dietary cholesterol a day, about what one and a quarter large UK eggs hold, went with 17% more cardiovascular disease (1.17, 1.09 to 1.26) [1][3].

Drouin-Chartier et al. (2020) followed 215,618 US nurses and health professionals for up to 32 years and found no link between eating at least one egg a day and cardiovascular disease, compared with less than one egg a month (hazard ratio 0.93, 0.82 to 1.05) [9]. Their updated meta-analysis of 33 estimates covering 1,720,108 people found no link for each extra egg a day (relative risk 0.98, 0.93 to 1.03), none in US cohorts (1.01, 0.96 to 1.06) or European ones, and a lower risk in Asian cohorts (0.92, 0.85 to 0.99) [9]. A 2022 meta-analysis with about twice as many participants (Zhao et al.), 49 estimates from 3,601,401 people, found 4% more cardiovascular disease for each extra 50 g egg a day (relative risk 1.04, 1.00 to 1.08), though the results of the studies it pooled varied widely (I² 80.1%) [10]. Zhao found 8% more in US cohorts (1.08, 1.02 to 1.14), a borderline rise in European cohorts and no link in Asian ones [10], so the two analyses disagree most about the US studies. Formisano’s 2025 umbrella review of the meta-analyses published since 2020 found no difference between high and low egg intake in cardiovascular outcomes or deaths from any cause, though it found very weak evidence of more heart failure (relative risk 1.15, 1.02 to 1.30) and more cancer deaths (1.13, 1.06 to 1.20) with higher intakes [6]. Its authors rated the overall quality of the studies critically low and concluded that the evidence is too weak to discourage eating eggs, which can be part of a healthy diet [6].

All of these studies are observational, and people who eat a lot of eggs differ in other ways that are hard to separate from the eggs. In Drouin-Chartier’s cohorts, those who ate more eggs had a higher BMI, ate more red meat and were less likely to be taking statins [9].

Are eggs riskier if you have diabetes?

They may be, and Australia’s Heart Foundation recommends no more than 7 eggs a week for people with type 2 diabetes, heart disease or high LDL cholesterol [2]. The evidence of extra risk is thin, and comes from small groups of people with diabetes within larger cohort meta-analyses. In a 2013 meta-analysis (Shin et al.), people with diabetes who ate an egg a day or more had 69% more cardiovascular disease than those eating fewer than one a week (hazard ratio 1.69, 1.09 to 2.62), an estimate drawn from four cohorts covering 7,549 people with diabetes, while across the general population eggs showed no link with cardiovascular disease (0.96, 0.88 to 1.05) [11]. Another 2013 meta-analysis (Rong et al.) found 54% more coronary heart disease among people with diabetes who ate the most eggs (relative risk 1.54, 1.14 to 2.09), an estimate from just two articles, and 25% less haemorrhagic stroke in people generally who ate the most eggs (0.75, 0.57 to 0.99). Its authors said both subgroup findings rested on few studies and should be read with caution [12].

A year-long randomised trial in Australia, funded and sponsored by the Australian Egg Corporation, an industry body, found no harm from eggs in the blood tests of people with diabetes [20]. In the DIABEGG trial (Fuller et al., 2015), 140 overweight or obese people with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes ate either two eggs a day, six days a week, or fewer than two eggs a week for three months, and their total and LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugar control did not differ between the groups [13]. Over a further weight-loss phase and follow-up to 12 months, the 128 participants showed no differences in blood sugar, blood fats or markers of inflammation (Fuller et al., 2018) [14]. Intake of unsaturated fats rose in both groups in the first phase, and the second told participants to replace saturated fats with unsaturated ones [13][14].

Whether eggs raise the chance of developing type 2 diabetes is unsettled. Drouin-Chartier et al. (2020) found 14% more type 2 diabetes for each extra egg a day in their three US cohorts (95% CI 7% to 20%), but their meta-analysis of 16 cohorts with 589,559 people showed no clear link overall (relative risk 1.07, 0.99 to 1.15), with a higher risk in US studies (1.18, 1.10 to 1.27) and none in European or Asian ones, and the authors said that whether this reflects how eggs are eaten in each region needs investigating [15]. Shin’s 2013 meta-analysis found 42% more type 2 diabetes in people eating an egg a day or more than in those eating fewer than one a week (1.42, 1.09 to 1.86) [11]. If you have diabetes or heart disease, or take a statin or any other medicine, speak to your GP or diabetes team before making big changes to what you eat, and don’t stop or change a medicine without their advice.

How many eggs a day is healthy?

Most people don’t need to limit how many eggs they eat, Australia’s Heart Foundation says, and UK guidelines, as the BHF described them in 2019, set no limit on dietary cholesterol [1][2]. The Heart Foundation still names plant proteins such as legumes, nuts and seeds, along with fish and seafood, as the best sources of protein, and advises smaller amounts of eggs and lean poultry [2]. The meta-analyses by Drouin-Chartier, Shin and Rong found no clear link between eating up to about an egg a day and heart disease in the general population [9][11][12], while Zhao’s found 4% more for each extra egg [10]. The BHF added that people with heart disease are no longer warned off eggs [1], while Australia’s Heart Foundation recommends no more than 7 a week for people with heart disease, high LDL cholesterol or type 2 diabetes [2]. Most people in Drouin-Chartier’s three US cohorts ate between one and fewer than five eggs a week [9], and the trials in Li’s meta-analysis lasted 12 weeks at most [5], so neither says much about eating several eggs a day for years.

Do you need eggs for protein and choline?

You don’t, though choline takes some planning without them. Per 100 g, egg has 12.6 g of protein and 3.1 g of saturated fat in US Department of Agriculture data, while tofu has from 7.2 g of protein for soft tofu to 17.3 g for firm tofu made with calcium sulphate, with 0.5 to 1.3 g of saturated fat and no cholesterol [4][16][21]. Protein on a vegan diet covers the other sources. Egg is the richer source of choline, with about 294 mg per 100 g against 124 mg in roasted soya beans [4][17], and choline from plant foods explains how a vegan diet meets the targets, which takes deliberate choices or a supplement. What egg production does to hens and to the male chicks of laying breeds is covered in Are eggs cruel?.