Eggs Can Help Decrease Heart Disease Risk
Are eggs good or bad for you? It’s a debate that has been going on for years and people are still left unsure of whether consuming too many eggs poses a potential health risk.
However, new research has found that eating three or four eggs a week — or 300 milligrams of dietary cholesterol per day — have a higher risk of both heart disease and early death compared with those who eat fewer eggs.
A study was published in the medical journal JAMA, with Victor Zhong, lead study author and a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago saying, “Eggs, specially the yolk, are a major source of dietary cholesterol.”
Zhong and his colleagues noted that a single large egg contains about 186 milligrams of cholesterol. Over the course of 17½ years, the researchers examined data from six U.S. study groups that included more than 29,000 people.
Over the follow-up period, a total of 5,400 cardiovascular events occurred, including 1,302 fatal and nonfatal strokes, 1,897 incidents of fatal and nonfatal heart failure and 113 other heart disease deaths. There were also cases of participants dying of other causes.
However, Zhong’s analysis of the data showed that each additional half an egg consumed per day was associated with a 1.1 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease and 1.9 percent higher risk of early death due to any cause.
The research team also took into consideration egg consumption being related to unhealthy behaviors, such as low physical activity or an unhealthy diet.
Eggs are nutritious food, but like anything, too much of something is never a good thing.
By: Maytinee Kramer
