First it was determined that eggs were bad for heart health. Then it was decided maybe eggs were not all that bad. According to registered dietitian Lenore Greenstein, it is simply a matter of how many eggs a week you eat on whether you risk creating heart health problems.

Greenstein says that people have questioned her about eggs since the day she started her private practice as a dietitian. Well, most of us are a bit confused at this point after hearing so many conflicting reports about eggs and heart health. Who knows what to believe anymore!

Greenstein explains the history of eggs and heart in a way that appeals to common sense and gives a bit of background into how we found ourselves in a place and time when eggs are so controversial a topic of diet. In the 60's, scientists made the discovery of a link between high blood cholesterol levels and heart disease. Because diet can affect blood cholesterol levels, and eggs can raise this level, it was advised people eat fewer eggs to keep the cholesterol levels down. Twenty years later, along comes the Framingham Dietary Study that questioned that eating eggs had any effect at all on blood cholesterol levels.

There have been other studies that indicate an increase of two eggs per day can cause blood cholesterol levels to rise, but eating 14 eggs per week is not the same as the average 5 eggs per week reported in the Framingham Dietary Study. So it's not so much a case of dueling scientists and studies, as it is a matter of how many eggs everyone is talking about when they say eggs do or do not threaten heart health.

Greenstein consider eggs to be a very nutritious food and suggest that for most, eating five eggs a week is not a danger worth clucking about. She said eating a diet of foods known for saturated fats, such as meat and full-fat dairy products, is a far greater factor in raising cholesterol levels than the egg.