Sincere question: How many eggs is the healthiest to eat in a day?

Hello, this is Science Popularization China. There is a food ingredient that is in every family's kitchen, and it is very cheap and can be bought all year round. Can you guess what it is? That's right, it's eggs. However, there are many controversies about eggs. Some people say that the cholesterol content of egg yolks is high and you can only eat one a day. Others say that eating too many eggs can easily lead to high blood lipids. So should we eat eggs? How many eggs are best to eat a day?

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Although the fat and cholesterol content of eggs is indeed not low, if you are in good health, you don't have to worry about high cholesterol caused by eating too many eggs. This is because about 70% of the cholesterol in the human body is synthesized by the body, and the cholesterol ingested from food accounts for only a small part. In addition, the human body has a mechanism to regulate cholesterol levels. Once the intake of cholesterol increases, the amount of cholesterol synthesized in the body will decrease appropriately. Eggs also contain lecithin, which helps regulate blood lipid levels.

In other words, as long as our ability to metabolize blood lipids is normal, eating this amount of cholesterol will not have any effect on our health.

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How many eggs is the healthiest to eat in a day? According to the recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Residents, a normal adult should eat 280 to 350 grams of eggs per week. Calculated at 50 to 60 grams per egg, this is equivalent to about 6 to 7 eggs, or one egg per day.

However, if you already have high blood lipids or obesity, you have to control your fat intake. Especially for people with high blood lipids, their lipid metabolism has already been affected, and their ability to self-regulate cholesterol is not as good as that of normal people, so they are particularly sensitive to cholesterol intake. If you consume a lot of high-cholesterol foods in your daily diet, you have to control it.

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Finally, I would like to remind everyone that in addition to paying attention to the amount of eggs you eat, remember to also pay attention to the cooking method of the eggs (try to process the eggs by steaming or boiling, and avoid frying them), and whether the overall diet is reasonable.

Review | Zhong Kai, Researcher at the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center