Phosphatidylcholine is a necessary nutrient that provides choline as an essential building block of cell membranes.

Some association studies have suggested a link between high levels of TMAO and an increased risk of heart problems and death, but association is not causation. Of course, it is difficult to design randomized controlled trials to assess a potentially causal link.

What prevents me from being fearful of TMAO as a potential cause of CVD is the observation that once the association between TMAO and CVD is corrected for kidney function, the association either becomes very weak or disappears entirely. That makes sense as TMAO (the product of TMA oxidation in the liver) is excreted by the kidney. So, it appears that impaired kidney function is instrumental in the link between TMAO and CVD. Or, in other words, as long as your kidneys do their job, you wouldn’t need to worry about TMAO and its dietary predecessors (shellfish, for example).

Some Mendelian randomization studies couldn’t confirm a link between TMAO and heart disease, while others suggested it might raise blood pressure, which, again, points to the kidneys as a moderator of the association.

Overall, the evidence doesn’t convince me to warn against eating eggs and egg yolks. I’m advocating the monitoring of vascular function as I described in several of my articles as a means to keeping a watchful eye on CVD risk. I’m monitoring my PWV on a daily basis, but even blood pressure can help as a benchmark. TMAO is unsuitable, as it is impractical to (self-)measure and its association is too weak.

One of the readers of my articles self-reports a weekly consumption of 48 eggs (for many years). As a 65-year-old fit and lean man free from any cardiovascular condition, eggs obviously do not harm him.

I eat hard-boiled eggs almost every day, and my cholesterol values and CV health is in deep green territory.

While I'm 10 years younger than you, that has been my habit for many years.

So, no, Walter, I'm not one to advocate staying away from eggs. I find them to be one of nature's nutrient gems.