One Egg A Day Is No Heart Disease Risk, Study Says

A study of more than 100,000 people tracked for 14 years, has found that eating one egg a day does not appear to raise the risk of heart disease, US researchers reported from the Harvard School of Public Health.

In the past people have equated eggs to “a shower of cholesterol, which they are not,” said Frank Hu, lead author of the study. “Eggs do contain a substantial amount of cholesterol but moderate consumption does not seem to have a major impact on heart disease. If your diet is balanced you don’t have to avoid eggs, and can even include them in your diet,” the author said.

Frank Hu’s study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association was taken from dietary and medicl information gleaned from two large health studies. One involves female nurses in 11 American states. The other covers male US dentists, optometrists, pharmacists, podiatrists and veterinarians. The eggs covered in the study were whole eggs eaten as such and not eggs included in processed foods.

Results in these two large prospective studies found no overall positive association between egg consumption (up to one egg a day) and risk of coronary heart disease or stroke. “We specifically found no evidence for an increase in risk with either recent or relatively long term egg consumption,” the report said.

“It is conceivable that the small adverse effect of cholesterol in an egg on plasma low-density lipoprotein (so-called “bad” cholesterol) levels is counterbalanced by potential beneficial effects on high-density lipoprotein (so-called “good” cholesterol) and tryglycerides, and other nutrients including antioxidants, folate and other B vitamins and unsaturated fat,” the study reported.