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Egg a day tied to lower risk of heart disease
| People who eat an egg just about every day may have a lower risk of heart attack and stroke than individuals who don’t eat eggs at all, a large Chinese study suggests. |
| Researchers examined survey data on egg consumption among 461,213 adults who were 51 years old on average. When they joined the study, none had a history of heart disease. Overall, they ate an average of half an egg daily; about 9 percent of them avoided eggs altogether while 13 percent ate roughly one egg every day. |
| At least half of the participants were followed for nine years or more. During that time, 83,977 people developed heart disease or had a heart attack or stroke, and 9,985 died from these conditions. |
| Compared to people who never ate eggs, individuals who ate an average of 0.76 eggs per day were 11 percent less likely to develop cardiovascular diseases and 18 percent less likely to die from these conditions, the study found. |
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Eggs can contain around 200 milligrams of cholesterol, and scientists used to think
that eating eggs would lead to higher levels of cholesterol in the blood, Dr
said.
Some more recent research, however, suggests that eggs might block the liver from making low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the bad kind of cholesterol that can build up in blood vessels and lead to clots and heart attacks, and boost production of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the good kind needed for healthy blood flow. |