Method for Identifying Cholesterol in Eggs

While eggs provide all kinds of important nutrients, they often are feared by dieters due to their very-high cholesterol content. By choosing the right types of eggs and consuming them in moderation, however, eggs can be a healthy part of most people's diet.

Finding the Cholesterol Content

• To identify the cholesterol content of your eggs, refer to the nutrition label on the egg package. It is usually located either on the top panel or on the inside of the top panel, but it is occasionally on the side of the carton. If you purchase eggs in bulk, the nutrition label may be located on a piece of paper inside the package.

  Nutrition labels display information such as calorie, fat, protein and nutrient content for all kinds of foods. The labels vary by the type of food they're located on. To find the cholesterol content of your eggs, refer to the nutrition label's third boldfaced tab, underneath "calories" and "fat." There may be several subcategories under the "fat" category that are listed in non-boldfaced print. Cholesterol content is located below these.

Types of Eggs

• Not all eggs have the same nutritional content, although they are likely to be similar. The size of the eggs can change the nutritional and cholesterol content slightly. The color of eggs (as long as they're regular chicken eggs), however, does not affect the cholesterol level.

  In general, the eggs from chickens that are fed vegetarian diets have lower cholesterol levels than regular supermarket eggs. The hens that produce typical supermarket eggs often are fed meals that contain ground corn and fish meal or meat, including chicken meat.

  Companies such as Eggland's Best, which produces vegetarian-fed chicken eggs and ships them through the United States, are a bit pricier than regular supermarket eggs but contain considerably less cholesterol. Eggs from organic and free-range, vegetarian-fed chickens are also usually somewhat lower in cholesterol and may have higher levels of vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids, which promote heart health.

Considerations

• Cholesterol is measured in milligrams. A large-sized regular chicken egg contains about 215mg of cholesterol. Eggs from vegetarian-fed and free-range chickens usually contain between 150 and 175mg of cholesterol.

  People who are trying to limit cholesterol intake may consider removing the yolks from some of the eggs that they consume. To keep your cholesterol count low, consume two to four eggs at once, but use the yolk from only one egg instead of all of them. This allows for good flavor and nutrition without the excess cholesterol because cholesterol is found only in the egg yolk.