Can an active person eat more cholesterol?
Looking at the nutritional facts on an egg carton, I see that one medium sized egg satisfies 71% of the daily nutritional requirements for cholesterol. Many bodybuilders eat up to a dozen of eggs per day, putting them well over the suggested amount of cholesterol. For example, Jay Cutler eats 2 whole eggs and 10 egg whites for breakfast. This puts him at 142% the suggested cholesterol, if we're being conservative and assuming most of the cholesterol is in the yolk. His 4 other meals throughout the day will put him even more over the limit. If you're an active person like Jay Cutler, can you safely consume more than the suggested daily requirements for cholesterol without damaging the heart? Does exercising flush out cholesterol at many magnitudes faster than being sedentary?
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This would also be a good link Risk Assessment Tool for Estimating Your 10-year Risk of Having a Heart Attack
Also consider vLDL
Total cholesterol - Total cholesterol is the sum of all the cholesterol in your blood. The higher your total cholesterol, the greater your risk for heart disease. Here are the total values that matter to you:
Less than 200 mg/dL 'Desirable' level that puts you at lower risk for heart disease. A cholesterol level of 200 mg/dL or greater increases your risk.
200 to 239 mg/dL 'Borderline-high.'
240 mg/dL and above 'High' blood cholesterol. A person with this level has more than twice the risk of heart disease compared to someone whose cholesterol is below 200 mg/dL.
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HDL cholesterol - High density lipoproteins (HDL) is the 'good' cholesterol. HDL carry cholesterol in the blood from other parts of the body back to the liver, which leads to its removal from the body. So HDL help keep cholesterol from building up in the walls of the arteries.
Here are the HDL-Cholesterol Levels that matter to you:
Less than 40 mg/dL A major risk factor for heart disease
40 to 59 mg/dL The higher your HDL, the better
60 mg/dL and above An HDL of 60 mg/dL and above is considered protective against heart disease.
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Smoker - Select “yes” if you have smoked any cigarettes in the past month.
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Systolic blood pressure - Systolic blood pressure is the first number of your blood pressure reading. For example, if your reading is 120/80 (120 over 80), your systolic blood pressure is 120.
Recent research has moved away from total cholesterol counts to pay attention to good HDL, neutral LDL, bad LDL and triglycerides. It has been found that some foods with high cholesterol raise the total cholesterol number, but they do it in ways that are not bad (raising large LDL and HDL). Other foods with low or no cholesterol (sugars), raise the bad LDL cholesterol and suppress HDL.
But, your question centers on eggs, so here is an abstract from 2006:
Dietary cholesterol provided by eggs and plasma lipoproteins in healthy populations
Fernandez, Maria Luz
The lack of connection between heart disease and egg intake could partially be explained by the fact that dietary cholesterol increases the concentrations of both circulating LDL and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in those individuals who experience an increase in plasma cholesterol following egg consumption (hyperresponders). It is also important to note that 70% of the population experiences a mild increase or no alterations in plasma cholesterol concentrations when challenged with high amounts of dietary cholesterol (hyporesponders). Egg intake has been shown to promote the formation of large LDL, in addition to shifting individuals from the LDL pattern B to pattern A, which is less atherogenic.
It is important to note that the end goal is not cholesterol numbers, but heart disease avoidance. The first sentence in that abstract tells the tale: there is not a connection between eggs and heart disease.
There is an abundance of research showing that exercise improves your cholesterol profile. Here is the first result I got on google scholar: cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=3498824
USDA's Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee states (page 17):
Cholesterol.
Previously, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans
recommended that cholesterol intake be limited to no more than 300
mg/day. The 2015 DGAC will not bring forward this recommendation
because available evidence shows no appreciable relationship between
consumption of dietary cholesterol and serum cholesterol, consistent
with the conclusions of the AHA/ACC report. Cholesterol is not a
nutrient of concern for overconsumption.
(my emphasis)
However, just above that is a section on saturated fat the conclusion of which is:
Saturated fat is still a nutrient of concern for overconsumption,
particularly for those older than the age of 50 years
So it would seem that the cholesterol in eggs shouldn't concern you, but perhaps the saturated fat should. Then again, apparently they got it wrong for the last 30+ years, so who's to say if this is right.
I can't name sources or studies, but I believe the warnings about dietary cholesterol are obsolete. Cholesterol in your diet has little effect on cholesterol in your blood.
Other factors like carbs in your diet, exercise and your genes do have an effect, so a physically active person should have lower cholesterol.
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