I can take you back over 30 years ago, and point to references on "trans fats" – cholesterol and eggs, etc., etc.

Fact is the medical community was rather intransigent in their views on many of these subjects and in some cases actually moved to quash efforts in these areas. In some instances, actually going as far as attempts to literally silence the researchers of the day.

Often times, the battle would be between the MD's and the PhD's, with the MD's wielding their rather considerable influence to label many of these people as "quacks." Of course there were some genuine quacks, just as there are in every discipline.

So now, just as an example when we discuss "trans fats" for instance, because the discussion comes from the medical community it is "ok."

Researchers now take credit for many of these "epiphanys," when in fact they are no such thing.

Years ago, I developed a severe case of hypoglycemia. The prevailing medical thought was that most of these cases (with very few exceptions) were all "in your head."

Most physicians would attribute such things to "depression" and you would be treated accordingly, as I myself was.

I went through many doctors until I found the one I still see today. The one who correctly diagnosed me (over 31 years ago) as being "pre-diabetic." I was treated with diet and nutrition, by this genius of an endocrinologist, rather than with anti-depressants and anti-anxiety agents. I quickly realized amelioration of my symptoms.

Today, I am a full-blown insulin dependent diabetic and have been for over 16 years now.

I've researched this for years, as I watched the proverbial pendulum swing back and forth. Much the same as the ADA's recommendations for diabetes, which I deal with on a daily basis.

And, as long as we are quoting some things……here's something to chew on…..

In northern Mexico, an area in which the diet contains a high amount of fat because of its reliance on low-cost meat products and tortillas made with hydrogenated oils, coronary artery disease is common. In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers evaluated the effects of daily consumption of whole eggs on the ratio of LDL (bad) cholesterol to HDL (good) cholesterol, and phenotype (the way an individual's genetic possibilities are actually expressed) in 54 children (8-12 years old) from this region. A month of eating 2 eggs daily, not only did not worsen the children's ratio of LDL:HDL, which remained the same, but the size of their LDL cholesterol increased-a very beneficial change since larger LDL is much less atherogenic (likely to promote atherosclerosis) than the smaller LDL subfractions. Among children who originally had the high-risk LDL phenotype B, 15% shifted to the low-risk LDL phenotype A after just one month of eating whole eggs.

Helping to Prevent Blood Clots

Eating eggs may help lower risk of a heart attack or stroke by helping to prevent blood clots. A study published in Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin demonstrated that proteins in egg yolk are not only potent inhibitors of human platelet aggregation, but also prolong the time it takes for fibrinogen, a protein present in blood, to be converted into fibrin. Fibrin serves as the scaffolding upon which clumps of platelets along with red and white blood cells are deposited to form a blood clot. These anti-clotting egg yolk proteins inhibit clot formation in a dose-dependent manner-the more egg yolks eaten, the more clot preventing action.

"One egg contains about 213 milligrams of dietary cholesterol. The daily recommended cholesterol limit is less than 300 milligrams for people with normal LDL (bad) cholesterol levels"

Linear thinking rides again!!!

From their Common Misconceptions about Cholesterol page:

7. I recently read that eggs aren’t so bad for your cholesterol after all, so I guess I can go back to having my two eggs for breakfast every morning.
One egg contains about 213 milligrams of dietary cholesterol. The daily recommended cholesterol limit is less than 300 milligrams for people with normal LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. An egg can fit within heart-healthy guidelines for those people only if cholesterol from other sources — such as meats, poultry and dairy products — is limited. For example, eating one egg for breakfast, drinking two cups of coffee with one tablespoon of half-and-half each, lunching on four ounces of lean turkey breast without skin and one tablespoon of mayonnaise, and having a 6-ounce serving of broiled, short loin porterhouse steak for dinner would account for about 510 mg of dietary cholesterol that day — nearly twice the recommended limit. If you’re going to eat an egg every morning, substitute vegetables for some of the meat, or drink your coffee without half-and-half in the example above. And remember that many other foods, especially baked goods, are prepared with eggs — and those eggs count toward your daily cholesterol limit. People with high LDL blood cholesterol levels or who are taking a blood cholesterol-lowering medication should eat less than 200 mg of cholesterol per day. Learn more about cooking for lower cholesterol.

I really don't believe the jury is still out. The overwhelming evidence certainly points to the health benefits re: the reasonable consumption of eggs.

Most of the studies indicating otherwise, were performed years ago, and many of those suffered from the fallacy of linear thinking.

In fact, there are very few competent studies which ever indicated otherwise. If you dig deeply, you'll find much opinion about the deleterious effects of egg consumption, supported by little if any actual evidence.

One book I might recommend is Diet and Disease
by E. Cheraskin Published in 1995, Keats Pub. (New Canaan, Conn) Originally published: Emmaus, Pa. : Rodale Books, 1968.

Ballesteros MN, Cabrera RM, Saucedo Mdel S, Fernandez ML. Dietary cholesterol does not increase biomarkers for chronic disease in a pediatric population from northern Mexico. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Oct;80(4):855-61. 2004. PMID:15447890.
Blumberg J, Johnson E. Lutein and disease prevention. Papers presented at the annual American Dietetic Association Conference, San Antonio, TX, October 26, 2003 and at the First International Scientific Symposium On Eggs and Human Health: The Transition from Restrictions to Recommendations, USDA, Washington, DC, September 23 2003.
Cho HJ, Ham HS, Lee DS, Park HJ. Effects of proteins from hen egg yolk on human platelet aggregation and blood coagulation. Biol Pharm Bull. 2003 Oct;26(10):1388-92. 2003.
Chung HY, Rasmussen HM, Johnson EJ. Lutein bioavailability is higher from lutein-enriched eggs than from supplements and spinach in men. J Nutr. 2004 Aug;134(8):1887-93. 2004. PMID:15284371.
Dhurandhar N. Vander Wal J, Currier N, Khosla P, Gupta A. Egg breakfast enhances weight loss. The FASEB Journal. 2007;21:538.1. 2007.
Ensminger AH, Esminger M. K. J. e. al. Food for Health: A Nutrition Encyclopedia. Clovis, California: Pegus Press; 1986 1986. PMID:15210.
Fischer LM, daCosta KA, Kwock L, Stewart PW, Lu TS, Stabler SP, Allen RH, Zeisel SH. Sex and menopausal status influence human dietary requirements for the nutrient choline. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 May;85(5):1275-85. 2007. PMID:17490963.
Howe, J.C., Williams, J., Holden, J.M., Zeisel, S.H., Mar, M. 2004. USDA database for the choline content of common foods. Available: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp.
Howell WH, McNamara DJ, Tosca MA, et al. Plasma lipid and lipoprotein responses to dietary fat and cholesterol: a meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr 1997 Jun;65(6):1747-64 1997.
Jacob RA, Jenden DJ, Allman-Farinelli MA, Swendseid ME. Folate nutriture alters choline status of women and men fed low choline diets. J Nutr 1999 Mar;129(3):712-7 1999.
Jensen HH, Batres-Marquez SP, Carriquiry A, Schalinske KL. Choline in the diets of the US population: NHANES, 2003-2004. The FASEB Journal 2007;21:lb219. 2007.
Kobayashi K, Hattori M, Hara-Kudo Y, Okubo T, Yamamoto S, Takita T, Sugita-Konishi Y. Glycopeptide derived from hen egg ovomucin has the ability to bind enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7. J Agric Food Chem. 2004 Sep 8;52(18):5740-6. 2004. PMID:15373418.
Morris MC, Evans DA, Bienias JL, Scherr PA, Tangney CC, Hebert LE, Bennett DA, Wilson RS, Aggarwal N. Dietary niacin and the risk of incident Alzheimer's disease and of cognitive decline. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2004 Aug;75(8):1093-9. 2004. PMID:15258207.
Shannon J, Ray R, Wu C, Nelson Z, Gao DL, Li W, Hu W, Lampe J, Horner N, Satia J, Patterson R, Fitzgibbons D, Porter P, Thomas D. Food and botanical groupings and risk of breast cancer: a case-control study in Shanghai, China. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2005 Jan;14(1):81-90. 2005. PMID:15668480.
Shaw GM, Carmichael SL, Yang W, Selvin S, Schaffer DM. Periconceptional dietary intake of choline and betaine and neural tube defects in offspring. Am J Epidemiol. 2004 Jul 15;160(2):102-9. 2004. PMID:15234930.
Wenzel AJ, Gerweck C, Barbato D, Nicolosi RJ, Handelman GJ, Curran-Celentano J. A 12-wk egg intervention increases serum zeaxanthin and macular pigment optical density in women. J Nutr. 2006 Oct;136(10):2568-73. 2006. PMID:16988128.
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The picture of the egg in this article is a bit misleading. There is in fact little evidence that eggs are something to be avoided, or even consumed sparingly.

If the body is functioning normally, then cholesterol levels are adequately modulated. If it isn't functioning correctly, then we see the sustained aberrations that can be harmful.

Thus my disagreement with this:

"For most of us, avoiding these is just as important as the genes we inherit"

A good analogy would be diabetes. You don't get diabetes from eating too much sugar. The genetic makeup trumps the consumption of "offending" foodstuffs.

In any event, to get back to the egg……….

The evidence re: eggs and cholesterol does not support the notion that their consumption is either deleterious or should be limited. In fact, much of it points in the other direction.

If you are searching for what might be considered true dietary offenders you should be looking at refined white sugar and trans fats……..not eggs.

So for "most" of us dietary intake takes a backseat to genetics.