The American Heart Association's Scrambled Relationship With Eggs
The AHA currently recommends one whole egg per day ... but that wasn't always the case
Most historians believe humans have been eating eggs for about six million years—more as a function of survival than a breakfast necessity. China is credited with first domesticating hens to lay eggs as far back as 5,400 B.C. Native Americans also domesticated hens to lay eggs here in America, long before British colonists arrived.
But in 1968, the American Heart Association announced a recommendation that Americans consume less than 300 milligrams of dietary cholesterol per day, and no more than three eggs per week (referring mainly to the yolk, since egg whites aren’t high in cholesterol). This statement made waves across the country and resulted in many Americans completely removing egg nutrients from their diets.
Over the course of years following this recommendation, the egg industry responded by documenting eggs’ nutritional value—as well as its minimal effect on plasma lipoprotein levels. In our Spring 2024 issue, Trey Braswell, owner of Braswell Family Farms, mentions this period of time and how it negatively impacted egg farmers.
Thirty-four years later, in 2002, the AHA dropped its recommendation to limit egg intake to three or four per week, but maintained its guideline that Americans should consume less than 300 milligrams of cholesterol per day. Meanwhile, countries like Great Britain, Ireland, and Australia removed cholesterol restrictions entirely from their national guidelines.
By 2015, most health agencies throughout the world had followed suit, but the AMA wasn’t one of them. That same year—perhaps not by coincidence—the organization appeared open to the viewpoint, announcing: “There is insufficient evidence to determine whether lowering dietary cholesterol reduces LDL-C.”
Then surprisingly, in August 2018, the AHA published a lukewarm endorsement of consuming eggs, stating: “At just 78 calories each, eggs are an efficient, rich source of protein and vitamins.” The association described the nutritional content of an egg as consisting of 6 grams of protein, vitamin D (which boosts bone health and the immune system), and choline (which helps with metabolism, liver function, and fetal brain development).
In August 2023, the AHA published a softened viewpoint of its 1968 stance on restricting egg consumption, as summarized in this opening paragraph: “For more than half a century, scientists have debated the role of dietary cholesterol in a healthy diet. Because it was often associated with saturated fat, limiting dietary cholesterol—especially by restricting egg consumption—seemed to benefit heart-health efforts.” And later in that same report: “Although dietary cholesterol was once singled out as a contributor to heart disease, the 2019 science advisory said studies have not generally supported an association between dietary cholesterol and cardiovascular risk.”
There was one caveat in that report: The AHA’s 2019 science advisory still recommended only consuming one whole egg, “or the equivalent,” each day, adding: “Given the nutritional benefits and convenience, older people with healthy cholesterol levels can have two.”
Where exactly does that leave us on the debate of daily egg consumption? In Lies My Doctor Told Me Second Edition: Medical Myths That Can Harm Your Health, author Dr. Ken Berry, M.D., offers a view on egg consumption that vastly contrasts the AMA’s and American Journal of the American Medical Association’s. (You can watch him explain his opinion in this YouTube video). Basically, Berry points out that the incredible, edible egg is an an ancestral gift we have eaten for ages, and that many studies on eggs have been poorly handled. He essentially gives you the go-ahead to eat eggs as often as you want, regardless of your cholesterol. Definitely an interesting viewpoint and, if you love eggs, worth considering.
Does the AMA still have a scrambled relationship with eggs, or is it completely fried? We’ll leave that up to you. After all, in the realm of medical research, it’s not hard to find a “credible” opinion on either side of the issue. Happy scrambling!
Eggs 100+ Years Ago
By Elizabeth Poland Shugg
Katharine Whitehead Rowland Crane was born in Athens, Georgia, on March 22, 1896—the second of five children and the oldest daughter in her family. Her siblings called her “Sister.” I called her Great Gram, as I’m one of her twenty-four great-grandchildren.
While reading a copy of her memoirs, I noted this paragraph that implies the importance of eggs to the average American family during the early 1900s, as well as the price of eggs at that time.
She writes about a farm woman who would come by their house selling various foods and produce. “My mother would buy a dressed chicken or some eggs if our hens were not laying … In those days hens would cost all of fifty cents and a dozen eggs about ten cents.”
Considering a dozen eggs cost $2.55 today, I think we can all agree ten cents a dozen would be quite welcome right now—and maybe investing in a hen isn’t such a bad idea.