Is Cholesterol is Egg Yellow (yolk) Good to eat?

 While giving advice on diet, the dietician/doctor, most of the time, advises to discard the yellow portion of a boiled egg thinking the yellow color of the yolk to be house of all bad fats and cholesterol. This advice is mostly given to the patients suffering from hypertension, and Diabetes. The patient also, wisely enough, agrees to it, as if he knows it earlier, and the advice of discarding the yellow portion is suggestive only. And it is a popular belief to discard the yellow of the egg to stay healthy.

The egg yolk, basically, is the nucleus of the cell, and the white portion is the cytoplasm. Egg protein is considered as high-class protein or complete protein as it contains all the 9 essential amino acids and Biological value is 100%. Amino Acids are the building blocks of a protein; those amino acids not synthesized in the body and have to be taken from outside, are called essential amino acids. Egg yolks contain essential Poly-Unsaturated Fatty Acids, including linoleic acid (C18:2n-6, LA), α-linolenic acid (C18:3n-3, ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5n-3, EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6n-3, DHA).

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, a raw yolk from one standard, large egg provides the following;

• 55 calories
• 2.70 g of protein
• 4.51 g of fat
• 184 milligrams (mg) of cholesterol
• 0.61 g of carbohydrate
• 0.10 g of sugar
• 0 g of dietary fiber

Egg yolks contain at least seven essential minerals, including:

• calcium
• iron
• magnesium
• phosphorus
• potassium
• sodium
• zinc

Egg yolks are good source of many vitamins, especially fat- and water-soluble vitamins.

One large (17 g) egg yolk contains;

Thiamin	0.030 mg
Riboflavin	0.090 mg
Niacin	0.004 mg
Vitamin B-6	0.060 mg
Vitamin B-12	0.332 micrograms (mcg)
Vitamin A	64.8 mcg
Vitamin E	0.439 mg
Vitamin D (D-2 and D-3)	0.918 mcg
Vitamin K	0.119 mcg

[ Source: Medical News Today]    

Egg contains Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL) that may be a concern for those people having raised levels of the same in their blood, i.e. patients with Atherosclerosis etc.. But many researchers conclude that the bad cholesterols are synthesized in the liver, and dietary cholesterols do not per se increase bad cholesterol in the body. The liver is stimulated to make cholesterol primarily by saturated fat and trans-fat in our diet, not dietary cholesterol. A large egg contains little saturated fat, i.e. about 1.5 grams (g). [Source: Havard Health Publishing]

Hence, adding egg to the diet is a good idea, but the key is in moderation. There is nothing like an egg in the breakfast, cooked in whatever form.