The world is a consistently disappointing place, but if there is one thing you can count on, it’s finding out about the existence of an extremely niche scientific journal. Today’s extremely niche scientific journal is the Journal of Poultry Science, the existence of which fills me with glee. A massive review published in the Journal of Poultry Science tackles the decades-old controversy of whether or not eggs are good for your heart.

For longer than pretty much anyone reading this (or writing it) has been alive, the heart health side of the medical and scientific worlds has endlessly debated whether or not eggs have been plotting your destruction via heart disease. But the analysis of critical tiles and data from 142 countries, which I cannot stress enough, was published in the Journal of Poultry Science, found that moderate egg consumption doesn’t actually raise heart disease risk for most people. In some cases, it might even be doing you a favor.

Japanese People Have Healthy Hearts, and Eat a ton of Eggs. So There You Go.

Look at Japan. The Japanese eat eggs at nearly double the global rate, yet they consistently have some of the lowest rates of ischemic heart disease on the planet. This is because while eggs definitely contain cholesterol, eating them only produces a minuscule two percent to three percent rise in your blood levels, which is way less than the damage done by the saturated fats in red meat or butter.

Your liver is actually smart enough to dial back its own production of cholesterol when you eat more dietary cholesterol, and the egg yolk itself contains antioxidants like lutein and zeaxanthin that protect your arteries.

In a study of nearly 800 patients undergoing heart imaging, there was no significant link between egg intake and arterial blockages. The researchers even found that some of the data suggested that for people not on cholesterol meds, eating 3 to 4 eggs a week might correlate with fewer artery blockages.

One big thing to keep in mind here before you start cramming eggs into every meal is that while the eggs themselves might not be as bad for you as previously thought, the real killer people don’t think about isn’t the eggs themselves as much as it’s the stuff it’s paired with, often processed meats like bacon and sausage and refined carbs like pancakes and waffles.

An egg by itself is nutritionally fine, but an egg buried under a ton of bacon and then doused in syrup is less fine — and unfortunately, oh so delicious.