I remember reading something that mentioned that the cholesterol in egg yolks is only bad for you if the yolk is exposed to air while cooking. So eggs that are boiled or poached are very healthy in relation to the scrambled/omelette/fried varieties. When I read the article, I had never tried poached eggs. Now I’m in love with them and want to know if I should eat them regularly.
No cite, but I’ve heard the same thing.
That sounds pretty ridiculous to me; cholesterol is not particularly reactive. I’m prepared to be contradicted by studies, but it’s going to take more than a “wellness” article or the Discovery Channel to convince me.
Fried eggs are somewhat less healthy than boiled eggs because there’s no added fat, but the cholesterol content remains the same. If you have a cholesterol problem, you may need to avoid eggs altogether, and if you don’t have a problem, eggs will do you no harm.
There maybe some truth to it (IMNA nutritionist and only looking at the chemical aspects):
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Egg yolk contains 97% of the lipid content in whole egg (Cotterill and Glauert, 1979) and over 60% of yolk lipid is unsaturated (Stadelman and Cotterill, 1986). Oosterwoud (1987)
reported that the decrease of shelf life of eggs during storage was mainly due to the lipid oxidation of egg yolk. Lipid Oxidation is caused also by cooking at high temperatures when the yolk is broken open. Lipid oxidation of foods causes the formation of off-flavor compounds, changes of taste, texture and color, loss of nutrients and production of toxic compounds.
In an analysis of more than 30 foods, investigators found that egg yolks have the highest amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin, two carotenoids that have been shown to help prevent age-related macular degeneration (AMD). British Journal of Ophthalmology 1998;82:907-10. The antioxidants get destroyed when you cook them open.
andy, I scoped the site you cited, and I’d issue a caveat: the guy is a proponent of an anti-free radical and pro-longevity diet plan, and there’s really not a great deal of scientific support for a lot of his statements, especially the thing about egg yolks. There’s no clear data that says oxidation of the lipoproteins in yolks either affects native LDL or HDL in the yolk eater, or that it interacts directly with vascular epithelium.
So take it with a grain of salt. And freshly ground black pepper.
I like eggs! 
QtM, MD
You are absolutely right Qadgop. I take it just the way you did. I was not sure, but posted the links anyways for anyone with better knowledge to contradict/confirm.
OK, I did a little research and found some dope that makes sense. Sorry, no cites, but you can Google “oxidized fats” for more info.
Basically, there is some health risk associated with frying eggs as opposed to boiling them, and it’s related to oxidized cholesterol, BUT… it has almost nothing to do with the eggs. It’s about the oil.
For years, we’ve been touting polyunsaturated vegetable oils as the healthy alternative to animal fats. It’s now been shown that frying oxidizes polyunsaturates, which are present in light salad oils like canola. Olive oil is monounsaturated, and doesn’t oxidize (they say). Not only that, but a good slug of the fats in egg yolk are unsaturated, and they get oxidized too. Cholesterol, contrary to rumor, does not appear to oxidize in frying pans.
However, cholesterol DOES oxidize in the bloodstream, and oxidized cholesterol is known to form plaques in blood vessels and promote heart disease. Oxidized fats, it turns out, promote the formation of oxidized cholesterol in the bloodstream, probably through formation of free radicals.
The upshot is that boiled eggs probably do cause less trouble with cholesterol than fried eggs. The question is whether the effect is large enough to have an effect on heart disease, and whether this makes it a good idea to eat the egg to begin with.
Oh, BTW: taking your eggs with a grain of salt can contribute to high blood pressure
's why I use a little dill and garlic powder. 
Robin