Or is it? An organization called the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) certainly disagrees. The group recently launched a campaign called “Cholesterol Kills”—complete with scary billboards—in an attempt to get the feds to reverse their new cholesterol advice. “In the same way that eating sugar raises blood sugar, eating cholesterol raises blood cholesterol concentrations,” says Neal Barnard, MD, founder and president of PCRM. “It has been shown in carefully conducted clinical studies, reviewed by the Institute of Medicine, and repeatedly reaffirmed. Those who doubt that simply have not read the relevant studies, and, I am sorry to say, that is likely the case with the Dietary Guidelines committee, too. What the committee said was simply wrong.” Sounds pretty scary—and pretty convincing. Plus, the PCRM website is rife with warnings on dangers of eggs and cholesterol-rich food, most of them backed up by citations to published research. MORE: 10 Ways to Eat More Vegetables at Breakfast But the Dietary Guidelines committee—also a group of health and nutrition experts—is recommending the exact opposite: that we don’t need to worry about limiting cholesterol anymore. So…who’s telling the truth? First, it helps to know that PCRM isn’t exactly a reputable source for medical advice. It’s better described as a advocacy group whose main purpose is to promote vegan diets, explains Steve Nissen, MD, chairman of cardiovascular medicine at Cleveland Clinic. “It’s a fringe group—not a legitimate scientific organization,” Nissen says. “The nutrition guidelines have moved away from restricting cholesterol. I moved away from it a long time ago. A lot of the traditional advice about saturated fat and cholesterol was not based upon good science. What legitimate scientific organization is going take out billboards to advertise their position? I just wouldn’t take these guys seriously.” Still, there’s some legitimacy to what PCRM is arguing, says David Katz, MD, Director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center. MORE: The 3-Ingredient Breakfast You Need to Try Tomorrow “Believe it or not, there is some truth on both sides,” he says. “Given a choice between eating more eggs, and eating more steel cut oats with berries and nuts, folks should eat the oats, berries, and nuts. Against the backdrop of idealized eating, there is a case against eggs.” (That’s because there is some solid research linking eggs to health problems. Foods like whole grains and nuts, on the other hand, are proven to be healthy in just about every study out there.) The problem is that most Americans aren’t eating an idealized diet. The dietary guidelines aren’t trying to get people to instantly convert to eating steel cut oatmeal every day—they’re trying to get people to not eat doughnuts for breakfast. Or sugary cereal. Or 10 strips of bacon. “The dietary guidelines are about improving how Americans actually eat,” Katz continues. “And against the backdrop of the typical American diet, they are quite right that eggs and cholesterol are not a particular concern. There are far more salient concerns about the prevailing American diet.” (Like, say, sugar.) The bottom line? You can do worse than eggs, and you can also do better than eggs. (As Katz so simply puts it: “Not eating eggs and eating doughnuts instead = bad. Not eating eggs and eating oats, walnuts, and blueberries instead = good.”) But don’t write out your last will and testament because you had an omelet for breakfast and #CholesterolKills. Eggs and other cholesterol-rich foods as part of a varied, whole food diet aren’t going to hurt you. We hate to break out the “everything in moderation” card again, but…everything in moderation. (Are you sick of hearing that yet?!)
