I'm confused. Are eggs good or bad for my cholesterol?

    It's understandable that you're confused. Eggs are high in cholesterol, and a diet high in cholesterol can contribute to elevated blood cholesterol levels. However, the extent to which dietary cholesterol raises blood cholesterol levels isn't clear. Many scientists believe that saturated fats and trans fats have a greater impact than does dietary cholesterol in raising blood cholesterol. 

    Adding to the confusion, the American Heart Association recently acknowledged that as long as you limit dietary cholesterol from other sources, it may be possible to include a daily egg in a healthy diet — a statement that was heavily reported in the media. 

    Here are the facts: One large egg has about 213 milligrams (mg) of cholesterol — all of which is found in the yolk. If you are healthy, it's recommended that you limit your dietary cholesterol intake to less than 300 mg a day. If you have cardiovascular disease, diabetes or high LDL (or "bad") cholesterol, you should limit your dietary cholesterol intake to less than 200 mg a day. Therefore, if you eat an egg on a given day, it's important to limit or avoid other sources of cholesterol for the rest of that day. 

    If you like eggs but don't want the extra cholesterol, use egg whites. Egg whites contain no cholesterol. You may also use cholesterol-free egg substitutes, which are made with egg whites. If you want to reduce cholesterol in a recipe that calls for eggs, use two egg whites or 1/4 cup cholesterol-free egg substitute in place of one whole egg. 

    你感到困惑，這是可以理解的。雞蛋是高膽固醇的，膳食的高膽固醇可能促進血液膽固醇水平的升高。但是，并不很清楚飲食膽固醇引起血液中膽固醇水平升高到何種程度。許多科學家認為，飽和脂肪和反式脂肪在提高血液中的膽固醇方面，比膳食膽固醇產生更大的影響。 

    更增加混亂的是，美國心臟協會最近承認，只要你限制其它來源的膳食膽固醇，也可能包括健康飲食中的每天一個雞蛋就行——這是一份在新聞媒體中大量報告的申告。 

    這里是一些事實：一個大的雞蛋有大約 213 毫克膽固醇——所有這些都在蛋黃里被發現。如果你是健康的，建議你限制你的飲食膽固醇攝入量低于一天 300 毫克。 如果你有心血管疾病，糖尿病或高的低密度脂蛋白（即“壞的” ）膽固醇，你應該限制你的飲食膽固醇攝入量低于一天 200 毫克。因此，如果你在某一天吃了一個雞蛋，重要的是要在那一天的余下時間里，限制或者避免其它來源的膽固醇。 

    如果你喜歡雞蛋，但不希望額外的膽固醇，就食用雞蛋白吧。雞蛋白不含有膽固醇。你也可以使用不含膽固醇的雞蛋代用品，這是用雞蛋白制成的。如果您想要在要求雞蛋的食譜中降低膽固醇，就采用兩個雞蛋白或者 1/4 杯無膽固醇的雞蛋代用品來代替一整個雞蛋。