Are Egg Yolks Bad for You?

For most people, no.

The longer answer is that one could certainly eat too many egg yolks much in the same way one could eat too much of just about anything. An awareness of what's in an egg yolk should inform a personal decision of how many is too many.

A few reasons one should eat the yolks are that:

• They have the overwhelming majority of vitamins and minerals in the egg.
• They have a significant fraction of the protein as well.
• They are by far the more delicious part of the egg.

The reasons I hear most for why one should not eat yolks are:

• They have all the cholesterol.
• They have all of the saturated fat.

The relationship between dietary cholesterol and serum cholesterol, as well as the relationship between HDL and LDL levels with coronary heart disease appears to me, a layman, to be a quagmire of conflicting published research.

Some people say that eating more eggs has little or no correlation with an increased rate of coronary heart disease. Others argue that eggs would be a dangerous addition to one's diet for somebody already suffering from cholesterol related problems.

Personally, I eat a lot of eggs. So far, it would appear my lifestyle and habits accommodate a relatively high rate of egg yolk consumption.

However if, for example, you have diabetes or a family history of heart disease or some other condition that would be adversely affected by an increase in dietary cholesterol, then perhaps for you the answer is that egg yolks are indeed bad for you.