American Doctor YouTuber Conducts One-Month Egg-Eating Experiment
Daily Consumption to Check If Blood Cholesterol Increases
"Cholesterol Actually Drops When Eaten with Carbohydrates"
What happens if you eat an egg every hour for a month? Nick Norwitz, a doctor and a medical PhD student at Harvard University in the United States, conducted this extreme experiment on his YouTube channel. On the 26th (local time), the New York Post reported, "Norwitz ate 24 eggs a day for a month to see if eggs raise blood cholesterol levels and observed any changes in cholesterol levels."
Except for sleeping time, Norwitz ate one egg every hour during the experiment period. He prepared the eggs in various ways such as boiled, fried, scrambled, and omelet, consuming them as part of a typical low-carb, high-fat diet, and reportedly maintained a habit of one hour of strength training each week.
The reason he conducted this experiment was due to controversy over whether eggs raise blood cholesterol levels. One egg contains about 186 mg of cholesterol. According to the New York Post, some experts have believed for decades that egg yolks are a direct cause of increased blood cholesterol. However, recent evidence suggests that cholesterol in food is not strongly related to cholesterol in the blood.
Contrary to the long-held belief of some experts, Norwitz revealed that his blood cholesterol levels actually decreased. According to him, the level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), known as the so-called "bad cholesterol," dropped by 18% compared to before the experiment. LDL is one of the factors promoting atherosclerosis. He said, "Eating 720 eggs over a month means consuming 133,200 mg of cholesterol," adding, "I hypothesized that my body's cholesterol, especially LDL cholesterol, would not increase, and that is what actually happened." He further claimed, "Even though cholesterol intake increased more than fivefold compared to before the experiment, LDL levels actually decreased." According to Norwitz, the "bad cholesterol" level decreased by 2% in the first week after starting the egg diet and dramatically dropped up to 18% during the last two weeks.
He attributed this to the carbohydrates consumed together. From two weeks after starting the egg diet, he added about 60g of carbohydrates daily by eating two bananas and approximately 595g of blueberries each day. He explained, "Increasing carbohydrate intake can further lower cholesterol levels. When following a low-carb diet, the body often starts burning fat as an energy source, which can raise LDL cholesterol levels. However, when more carbohydrates are consumed, the body uses carbohydrates instead of fat, leading to a tendency for LDL levels to decrease."
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