It wasn’t that long ago that eggs were considered a dietary no-no. But if you’ve been avoiding the humble egg for health reasons it is not what it is cracked up to be. Eggs went out of favor because of the cholesterol in their yolks. After all, cholesterol is the stuff that builds up in our blood vessels increasing our risk of heart attacks and strokes.

But we now know that eating cholestrol isn’t the main thing that makes cholesterol in our blood go up. Eating saturated fat which are found in butter and other animal fats has a far greater effect. If you are otherwise healthy, and have a reasonably balanced diet, cholesterol in foods like eggs isn’t such a worry. One exception though is when your cholesterol level is already high. Then, you respond differently and eating cholesterol becomes more of a problem.

While there is fat in eggs themselves, it’s only around five grammes. And more than half of that is unsaturated, the good type that actually helps counterbalance cholesterol’s artery clogging effects.

The take home messege is not only are eggs not ‘bad’ for you, they’re nutritious. They are packed with protein, vitamins and antioxidants. They’re actually one of the rare sources of Vitamin D, something many of us are lacking. If you have heart disease or you’re at increased risk of it because of existing high blood cholesterol or other factors, then you might need to limit how often eggs are on the menu. But for most healthy people, up to four eggs a week isn’t just OK, it’s great! In fact, like my English teacher used to say ” It’s smashing! “.