Egg Yolk: to Eat or not to Eat

A healthy diet is essential for the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic diseases, including type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM), obesity, hypertension, Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), and stroke [1]. Over the last decades, dietary cholesterol has been the major focus due to the relationship between elevated serum cholesterol and increased risk of CVD [2]. AHA/ACC recommends the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet to help preventing the development of CVD. The TLC and the DASH diet recommended consuming less than 200 mg and 150 mg of cholesterol per day, respectively [3,4]. Of note, the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans [5] have removed the recommendation of limiting cholesterol intake to no more than 300 mg/day; however, the guidelines stated that “individuals should eat as little dietary cholesterol as possible while consuming a healthy eating pattern.” Considering egg is a rich source of dietary cholesterol (200–300 mg/100 g, about 180 mg per medium egg), individuals with increased risk for CVD are often advised against consuming eggs [6]. However, current evidence on the association between dietary cholesterol and CVD risk yields conflicting results.