Eggs are an excellent low-calorie way to get protein, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other healthful compounds into your diet. One whole large egg contains 6 grams of high-quality protein in just 70 calories. Eggs also contain varying amounts of 13 essential vitamins and minerals. But how many eggs is it safe to eat per day?
For many years eggs were vilified due to their high cholesterol content and potential association with heart disease. However, most recent studies show that the cholesterol that you eat has very little impact on the amount of cholesterol in your body.
Cholesterol is a compound found in the body. It is needed to make hormones, vitamin D, and certain substances that help you to digest your food. Your body makes cholesterol. In addition to the cholesterol you make, you also get a small amount from some of the foods you eat. It used to be thought that the cholesterol from your diet had a significant effect on the amount of cholesterol in your blood. However, that is no longer thought to be the case. In fact, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans no longer consider cholesterol to be a nutrient of concern, partly for this reason.
So where does that leave us with eggs? How many eggs is it safe to eat per day?
Eating 1 egg per day is consistent with a healthy diet, and is unlikely to have any significant impact on the risk of developing cardiovascular disease among healthy men and women. In fact, eating 2 or 3 eggs per day is highly unlikely to increase the risk of heart disease in the majority of the population, although there may be some risk for people with diabetes.
That being said, some studies suggest that eating 5 or more eggs per week may have adverse health consequences, including an increased risk of heart failure in men, or breast cancer in women. However, the research is weak, and any possible increased risk is likely outweighed by the healthful nutrients found in eggs.
The safety of eating more than 3 eggs per day is unknown because no studies have examined that. While it is possible that adverse health consequences could result from eating more than 3 eggs per day, what is more impactful is the quality of a person’s overall diet.
If you want a healthy way to get more eggs into your diet, why not try this recipe for banana oatmeal protein pancakes. They are easy to make and provide you with a good dose of protein in the morning.
The bottom line
Eating up to 3 eggs per day is safe for the majority of the population. People with diabetes may increase their risk of heart disease by eating more than 1 egg per day. However, overall diet quality is far more important to heart health than the number of eggs you eat each day.
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I have questioned this thing about eating too many eggs. For “decades”, the Canadian government kept telling people of limiting it to 1 egg per week. It took me many years to think how stupid this statement was because what are the alternatives that I should eat.
The other evil would be eating some juicy fat steak or chicken or have a high carbohydrate diet.
I eat like 8-10 small eggs a day and cut all sugars from my diet and limited the carbohydrates to very little. There seems to be something wrong with what the Canadian government was telling its people. In fact, went was in Toronto during summer of 2017 and found the Canadian looking pretty morbid.
You eat the eggs. Seems to be the bad oils, sugars, carbs and poisoned water that is killing people.
Well – so good to hear some real sense! I really don’t enjoy meat in any form and so love my four very large free range eggs daily (ñot all at one sitting!)
This has been my question for a long time. I started a keto diet last year and eggs is one of go to food.
Thank you so much, but this is a very frustrating subject, one website tells you good another tells you bad. I think one thing I have come across which makes a lot of sense is that it is not cholesterol which causes disease, but INFLAMMATION.
I am a bit of a fitness freak, I am practically a pescatarian who eats 90% vegetarian, I rarely eat red meat, for reasons of morality, corporate farming methods, and economy, without eggs I don’t really know how else to make up the core of my bodybuilding diet, and I have a bit of a fast metabolism.
I eat up to 3 a day and worry if I am doing myself harm in the long run.
I too have been consuming a LOT of eggs. I’ve been doing intermittent fasting since 2013 and will be 50 in April. My cholesterol was always around 135 my entire life up to the last couple years. I don’t think its the eggs that are the problem. I think its been the 1lb cheeseburgers. While I’m getting lean I drop the burgers and go to chicken and sometimes up to 7-8 eggs a day on the days I work out. Most people think I’m in my mid thirties. I’m muscular, lean and no wrinkles of any kind in my face. My cholesterol last check was down ten points but still elevated at 230.
My brother in law eats a dozen eggs every day 7 days a week year round.
Is that bad?
There don’t seem to be any studies that look at eating more than 3 eggs a day. Personally, I don’t think it’s good to eat too much of anything. Nutritional science is still a young science. There is a lot we don’t yet know. I say, hedge your bets and eat everything in moderation (even kale!)
Too much of anything is poisonous!
Could you please use bold dark print? Your print is too light.
I eat 3/4 each night with toast. Sunny side up! Have for years.
My 7 year old loves eggs, boiled, fried, and scrambled. She will sometimes eat up to 4-5 eggs per day (2-3 for breakfast with fruit, 2 for lunch or at pm snack). At 7 years old she is 50″ and 75 lbs. She has a healthy well rounded apatite and diet rich in fruits, vegetables, fish, and chicken. Am I dangerously indulging her? Sometimes it’s really all she wants to eat.
Hi Jessa. There really aren’t any studies looking at the impact of children eating that many eggs per day. If your daughter only eats that many on occasional days, it probably won’t do any harm. However, I would try to encourage some other forms of protein in place of some of the eggs. It is not great to overindulge in anything, even the healthier foods. But great that she has a good appetite and eats a wide range of fruits and vegetables as well. Keep up the good work 🙂
Very informative article.
Hello from Sweden!
Can you tell me where I can find the study your refer from where it says you can safely eat two/three eggs per day?
Hi Karl. Here are the citations for the 3 studies that I was referring to in relation to safely eating 2/3 eggs per day:
Fuller, I., Caterson, I., Sainsbury, A., Denyer, G., Fong, M., et al. (2015). The Effect of a High- egg Diet on Cardiovascular Risk Factors in People with Type 2 Diabetes: The Diabetes and Egg (DIABEGG) Study–a 3-mo Randomized Controlled Trial. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 101(4), 705-13.
Scrafford, C. G., Tran, N. L., Barraj, L. M., and Mink, P.J. (2010). Egg Consumption and CHD and Stroke Mortality: A Prospective Study of US Adults. Public Health Nutrition 14.02: 261-70. 8 Farrell, D. The Role of Poultry in Human Nutrition: How important is cholesterol in eggs? Food and agriculture organization of the United Nations, Poultry Development review. Web.
Farrell, D. The Role of Poultry in Human Nutrition: How important is cholesterol in eggs? Food and agriculture organization of the United Nations, Poultry Development review. Web.