Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Eggs are a number of people's favorite food ingredients. Apart from being relatively cheap, this source of animal protein can be processed into various delicious and filling menus.
Eggs, which are easy to process, are known to be good for body health because they contain fat, carbohydrates, calcium, phosphorus, iron and potassium. However, similar to the sentence “Excess of anything will be bad”, consuming too many eggs is not good for health, especially for cholesterol sufferers.
Why is that?
Reporting from Healthline, one egg on average contains around 200 mg of cholesterol, most of which is found in the yolk. According to the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes RI), one egg yolk contains around 186 mg of cholesterol and is considered quite high.
For the record, the Indonesian Ministry of Health states that the normal value for cholesterol in the body is less than 200 mg/dL. So, how do you eat eggs to avoid the risk of high cholesterol?
1. Limit the amount of egg consumption
A number of studies show that one to two eggs per day are still safe for consumption by healthy adults with normal cholesterol levels and no significant risk factors for heart disease.
Meanwhile, a 2017 study that conducted experiments on 38 healthy adults showed that three eggs per day increased LDL and HDL levels and the LDL-to-HDL ratio.
For information, LDL is low-density lipoprotein or bad cholesterol, while HDL is high-density lipoprotein or good cholesterol.
Until now, experts still do not advise cholesterol sufferers to consume more than two eggs per day. Instead, cholesterol sufferers are only advised to consume one egg a day.
According to researchers, people with hypercholesterolemia or whose cholesterol levels exceed normal limits need to limit their cholesterol intake to less than 200 mg/dL.
A study examining adults in Europe and Korea found that consuming two to four eggs each week can significantly contribute to cholesterol intake and increase the risk of heart disease, especially in people with diabetes.
Meanwhile, another study involving more than 100 thousand adults in the United States (US) found that adults who consumed more than five to six eggs per week increased their risk of heart disease by 30 percent. However, it cannot be confirmed that this increased risk is caused by eggs alone.
2. Pay attention to how to process eggs
There are a number of ways you can reduce the amount of cholesterol in eggs, namely boiling them, using a good type of oil, and not overcooking the eggs.
Cooking by boiling does not increase the amount of fat in the eggs so it is considered better than frying. However, make sure you don't boil the eggs at a high temperature for too long. This is because the cholesterol in eggs can oxidize and produce oxysterol compounds if cooked at high temperatures for too long.
If you want to eat fried eggs, choose a good type of oil, such as olive oil, avocado oil, or cholesterol-free fat.
3. Consume eggs with vegetables
Vegetables are foods that are suitable to be eaten with eggs. It is known that there are several types of vegetables that are considered capable of lowering cholesterol levels in the body, such as beans, cabbage, watercress, and curly cabbage.
In Indonesia, eggs and cabbage are often combined as a food menu. Cabbage is good enough to consume with eggs because it contains high fiber so it is good for digestion and body metabolism. This vegetable, which is also suitable as fresh vegetables, can lower cholesterol because it contains the active ingredients sulforaphane, iberin, histidine and Cyano Hydroxy Butene (CBH).
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