How Much Cholesterol in an Egg?
How much cholesterol is in an egg? Learn about the different kinds of cholesterol, what to watch for, and the saturated fats to consider when selecting a healthy diet.
Have you noticed that butter oscillates between healthy and unhealthy every few years? The same thing applies to eggs. The nutritional content of an egg goes between “part of a healthy diet” to “unacceptable” every few years. It’s important to note that it’s okay for scientists from the FDA, USDA, and other organizations to change their understanding. We want them to change their suggestions based on new evidence. Sticking to their original statements despite new facts would be far worse. We shouldn’t call it flip-flopping; we should consider it an evolution in understanding.
In the August 2018 issue of the scientific journal Nutrients, a paper was titled “Dietary Cholesterol Contained in Whole Eggs is Not Well Absorbed and Does Not Acutely Affect Plasma Total Cholesterol Concentration in Men and Women.” Then, in July 2020, the same journal published a paper titled “Association between Egg Consumption and Cholesterol Concentration: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials,” where researchers looked at 28 studies published since 2000 and found that the impact of egg consumption on low-density lipoprotien cholesterol (LDL-C) ratio among healthy subjects showed that more eggs consumed per day may influence cardiovascular disease risks by increasing LDL-C and the LDL-C/HDL-C (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol) ratio.
So, what’s going on with eggs and cholesterol?
Good and Bad Cholesterol
HDL-C helps take excess cholesterol away from the arteries and is a “good” cholesterol that’s created in the human body. LDL-C is also created by the human body and is considered “bad” because it can build up and cause artery walls to narrow.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 60% of coronary heart disease and 40% of strokes are due to elevated cholesterol levels. Reducing LDL-C is important for health.
How Does Saturated Fat Increase Cholesterol?
“Most of the cholesterol in the body is made by the liver, not from diet,” the Mayo Clinic reports. Their website states, “While diet does matter, research has found that cholesterol levels have more to do with the fat you eat, namely saturated and trans fats, than cholesterol.”
According to the American Heart Association, “Saturated fats are found in animal-based foods such as beef, pork, poultry, full-fat dairy products, eggs, and tropical oils, such as coconut and palm. Because they’re typically solid at room temperature, they’re sometimes called solid fats.”
“When it comes to biology, both the saturated fat and the cholesterol in the egg can increase the blood cholesterol level,” Dr. Teresa Fung, professor of nutrition at Simmons University, explains. Dr. Fung is also an adjunct professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “However,” she adds, “there’s a difference in how much eggs can increase the cholesterol. Saturated fat can increase cholesterol so much more than the cholesterol that we eat. So, the effect of saturated fat is much greater. Basically, it’s a low-hanging fruit that we need to work on. Control the saturated fat and we can get a much better health benefit than trying to control the cholesterol that we eat.”
Saturated fats can cause problems with your blood cholesterol levels, which can increase your risk of heart disease. Evidence shows that saturated fat intake has gone down while polyunsaturated fat intake and heart disease have increased.
Egg Nutrition
A USDA spokesperson told Backyard Poultry, “Eggs provide important nutrients as well as saturated fat and dietary cholesterol, so it’s important to think about how they fit into a healthy eating pattern.”
Eggs contain beneficial nutrients like proteins, lipids, and minerals. According to a 2018 paper titled “The Impact of Egg Nutrient Composition and its Consumption on Cholesterol Homeostasis,” a boiled egg (50 grams) provides 6.29 grams of protein, 0.56 grams of carbohydrate, 1.6 grams of saturated fat, 2.0 grams monounsaturated fat, and 0.7 grams of polyunsaturated fat. Eggs also contain various minerals (calcium, iron, magnesium, and phosphorus) and many vitamins, including A and D, but lack vitamin C. Long-term population studies show that eating an egg daily hasn’t been linked to higher heart attack or stroke rates.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 (Dietary Guidelines) provides advice on what to eat and drink to promote health, reduce the risks of disease, and meet nutrient needs. “Healthy eating patterns include vegetables, fruits, grains, protein foods, and dairy and fortified soy alternatives, and are limited in saturated fat, added sugars, and sodium. Eggs are part of the protein foods group, which also includes lean meats and poultry; seafood; beans, peas, and lentils; and nuts, seeds, and soy products,” the USDA spokesperson said.
They added, “While eggs are a nutrient-dense food, they do contain saturated fat, and their saturated fat content should be considered when planning a healthy dietary pattern that doesn’t exceed the saturated fat limit.”
Cholesterol by the Numbers
While different breeds of chickens produce eggs with the same nutritional content, poultry species differ. There’s no evidence that organic or pastured-raised chicken eggs differ from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO)-raised eggs in cholesterol numbers.
The American Heart Association recommends that total dietary cholesterol consumption should be less than 300 milligrams per day. We should be concerned about the correlation between foods with a higher dietary cholesterol number and higher saturated fat. In many non-U.S. countries, cholesterol isn’t even included on nutritional packaging.
“The nutrition facts label is already so packed with stuff that I actually agree that it should fall to the bottom of the priority list,” Dr. Fung says. “There’s more important stuff to put on that nutrition facts label.”
The Dietary Guidelines recommends limiting saturated fat to less than 10% of calories per day, starting at age two, by replacing it with unsaturated fats, particularly polyunsaturated fats. The Dietary Guidelines also promotes the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommendation that dietary cholesterol consumption be as low as possible without compromising the nutritional adequacy of the diet. These recommendations are based on evidence reviewed by the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on types of dietary fat consumed, including dietary cholesterol, and risk of cardiovascular disease.
Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) FoodData Central show that one egg yolk contains 1.62 grams of saturated fat and 184 milligrams of cholesterol. One egg white contains 0 grams of saturated fat and 0 milligrams of cholesterol.
How Does Cooking an Egg Affect the Cholesterol Levels?
“How you prepare eggs can help you limit your intake of saturated fat,” the USDA spokesperson says.
“The Dietary Guidelines recommends cooking with vegetable oil in place of options higher in saturated fat, including butter, shortening, lard, or coconut oil.” Eating an egg per day is healthy for most people, but they need to watch what they eat with that egg and how it’s prepared.
“Some people love eggs, and every morning, they’ll have an egg, and some will occasionally get an omelet with three eggs. If that isn’t an everyday happening, I wouldn’t worry about it. Once in a while, three eggs are fine,” Dr. Fung says. “Yeah, it’s a lot of dietary cholesterol, but in the big scheme of things, it’s not like, ‘Oh, today I ate a lot of cholesterol and boom, my bad cholesterol level is going to shoot up.’”
She explains that it takes 4 to 6 weeks to see the impact when it comes to blood cholesterol.
“I do worry about what they put in the omelet. If it’s bacon or sausage, the eggs aren’t doing the harm,” she adds. “It’s what else they eat with the eggs. If they’re putting it into a quiche, the pie crust is a little bit worrisome because to make a flaky pie crust, you need saturated fat.”
Egg Cholesterol Comparison Chart
Note: These measurements are per 100g and not per egg, as this is a better comparison between a tiny quail egg and a large goose egg. A duck egg is usually 70g so the chart above is providing a measurement for 100g, which is more than one duck egg. The yolk to white ratio is larger than a chicken egg and is why the cholesterol in a duck egg is much higher.
Originally published in the April/May 2025 issue of Backyard Poultry and regularly vetted for accuracy.
