Eggs and Cholestrol / Cholesterol

Want to know about how much cholesterol is in one egg?  The egg whites cholesterol and saturated fat levels? Are eggs bad for cholesterol? The differences in the eggs and cholesterol amounts across different bird species, like chicken egg, duck egg, goose egg, quail egg and others? How to prepare eggs the low cholesterol recipe way?

If you answered yes, then look below for your answers on eggs and cholesterol!

Contents this Eggs and Cholesterol page: Egg Whites and cholesterol. Are eggs bad for cholesterol? Eggs and cholesterol and saturated fat levels of various bird eggs. Understanding the eggs and cholesterol facts and figures. Preparing eggs the low cholesterol way. Eggs and cholesterol summary.

Egg whites and cholesterol

The egg whites cholesterol levels and saturated fat levels is zero.  Egg whites are cholesterol and saturated fat free. So when we talk about the cholesterol in eggs, we are really talking about the saturated fat and cholesterol levels in egg yolk.

  This eggs and cholesterol finding holds true for all these bird eggs: 

Hen eggs and duck eggs are very popular, while quail eggs, turkey eggs and goose eggs tend to be eaten rarely, but the finding is the same for all these eggs, the egg whites cholesterol and saturated fat amounts are zero, while the egg yolk contains the cholesterol and saturated fat.

Are eggs bad for cholesterol?

Eggs are both bad and good for cholesterol.  The egg yolks are definitely not good and may raise cholesterol levels.  The egg whites are considered safe.

However, if looking at the eggs and cholesterol levels, research has found that the egg whites contain a substance that counteracts the harmful effects of the egg yolk on your cholesterol level, to a big extent anyway.  So eating a whole egg appears to be somewhat safe, even for someone on a low cholesterol diet.

Many health professionals, including myself, consider two eggs a week to be relatively safe to eat - consider the eggs as unlikely to cause any serious effect on ones blood cholesterol levels.  However, because of the eggs high cholesterol and saturated fat, we still look at the whole topic of eggs and cholesterol with some trepidation, which may turn out to be justified by later research.

Also, some recipes require the egg yolk be used with the egg whites left out, such as when making certain cakes.  In this scenario, the eggs high cholesterol may well end up killing you in the long run.  The following facts and figures on eggs and cholesterol levels should help you monitor the cholesterol and saturated fat you are adding into your diet and recipes:

There are several ways of looking at the eggs and cholesterol levels of these different species of fowl.

1...  How much cholesterol is in one egg?  How much saturated fat is in one egg?

One Chicken egg has cholesterol of 201mg and 1.6gms saturated fat (55 gm egg)
One Duck egg has cholesterol of 621mg and 2.6gms saturated fat (70 gm egg)
One Quail egg has cholesterol of 76mg and 0.3gms saturated fat (9 gm egg)
One Turkey egg has cholesterol of 747mg and 2.9gms saturated fat (80 gm egg)
One Goose egg has cholesterol of 1226mg and 5.3gms saturated fat (145 gm egg)

2... Eggs and cholesterol / saturated fat, per 100 grams ( a bit under 4 ounces ) of egg:

Chicken eggs average out with an eggs cholesterol level of 548mg and 3.3gms saturated fat
Duck eggs average out with an eggs cholesterol level of 880mg and 3.7gms saturated fat
Quail eggs average out with an eggs cholesterol level of 839mg and 3.6gms saturated fat
Turkey eggs average out with an eggs cholesterol level of 995mg and 3.6gms saturated fat
Goose eggs average out with an eggs cholesterol level of 851mg and 3.6gms saturated fat

3... Eggs cholesterol per gram of yolk.

From better to worse: guinea fowl has 12.77mg cholesterol, there followed by chicken, pheasant, quail, turkey, duck, and goose, with the dove egg yolk the worst with 21.99mg of cholesterol / gram. Bair and Marion 1978.

Understanding the EGGS and CHOLESTEROL Facts and Figures:

The concentrations of egg cholesterol and egg saturated fat may differ from one flock of birds to the next. For example, quail egg cholesterol can range from about 76 mg up to a massive 400mg of cholesterol per 9 gram egg!

Further, Bair and Marion made an interesting observation - egg yolk cholesterol appears to decrease with the age of the hen, at least in chickens anyway.

The concentrations of cholesterol and saturated fat reported in any common food table should be treated strictly as a guideline, NOT a fact.  Likewise, egg cartons may only give the average cholesterol level for the species, rather than from the farm that produced them.

All this means that eggs and cholesterol is a very difficult topic to discuss with any precision, but the guidelines provided here on eggs and cholesterol should provide a solid reference point to work from at least.

Preparing eggs the low cholesterol way.

As an egg's cholesterol is high, with the added disadvantage of having saturated fat, a high cholesterol sufferer normally restricts their chicken egg intake to one or two eggs per week and most likely should avoid the other types of eggs for the most part. The low cholesterol recipes for preparing eggs is to either boil, poach, scramble using skim milk, or fry using a thin spray of vegatable oil, such as canola oil. The egg can be seasoned any way you want, provided the seasonings are cholesterol and saturated fat free. Try using the herbs and spices that help lower cholesterol - these can be found on our lower cholesterol naturally page.

Eggs and Cholesterol Summary

In summary, an eggs cholesterol is found in the egg yolk, different species of birds have different size eggs, they have different ratios of egg white to egg yolk, as well as different concentrations of cholesterol per gram of yolk.

In relation to eggs and cholesterol, the best eggs to eat on a low cholesterol diet, appears to be the common chicken egg, which has the lowest egg cholesterol and the lowest egg saturated fat, per 100 grams / 4 ozs.     If you are able to buy eggs from the source, choose chicken eggs laid by old birds, for even lower cholesterol.

Main write by Donald Urquhart, BA, DipAppPsy.