How many eggs can you eat per week to be healthy? This physiology expert delivers the scientific answer

Stocking up on protein is essential for the body to function properly. Indeed, “they play a structural role (at the muscular or cutaneous level) but are also involved in many processes such as the immune response (antibodies), the transport of oxygen in the body (hemoglobin), or even the digestion (digestive enzymes)” explains ANSES. And eggs are a great source. However, some stubborn rumors claim that it is necessary to limit its consumption to limit the increase in cholesterol.

This idea dates from the 1960s, when an organization of cardiologists, the American Heart Association, recommended limiting egg consumption to three per week to reduce dietary cholesterol intake. A powerful recommendation that is sometimes still relayed. Yet recent research proves these restrictions to be false. Joffrey Zoll, lecturer in physiology at the Faculty of Medicine of Strasbourg, interviewed by the Parisianexplains that it is no longer justified to limit ourselves. “In the 1960s, fat was widely demonized and cardiologists then set a cholesterol consumption limit of 300 g per day, hence the recommendation on eggs whose yolks are rich in cholesterol. However, from the mid-2000s, we began to understand that there is, in reality, no direct correlation between the quantity of cholesterol ingested and the cholesterol level in the blood. The mechanism which leads to excess blood cholesterol is much more complicated and results primarily from an unbalanced diet”.

The egg is therefore an excellent compromise for people who wish to limit or eliminate meat from their diet. They allow you to stock up on protein, while providing vitamins A, B, B12, D, but also omega-3. “If we want to be conservative, we can say that 5 to 7 eggs per week is a good benchmark, including for children, but when you are sporty and in good health, you can easily eat up to two per day,” explains Joffrey Zoll. It is a relatively low-calorie food, but very filling. Ideally, it should be cooked soft-boiled; the white well cooked and the yolk still a little runny. This would be the best way to best assimilate all the nutrients.