One egg a day does not increase CVD risk
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Eating one egg per day does not increase the risk for cardiovascular disease or death, according to a study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
“Our findings indicate that egg intake of one serving per day is not harmful, and so can be consumed safely,” Mahshid Dehghan, PhD, senior research associate in the department of medicine at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, told Healio Primary Care. “Eggs are available, affordable and provide high quality protein and some essential nutrients. Therefore, egg consumption may improve diet quality, especially for populations with poor dietary quality, particularly among low income populations.”
Recent research has created controversy over the associations between egg consumption and health. Cardiovascular (CV) guidelines used to recommend consuming no more than three eggs per week because of concerns that egg consumption could adversely affect blood lipids due to their high cholesterol, according to Dehghan and colleagues. However, some studies found no connection to egg consumption and adverse health effects. The 2015 to 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the American Heart Association have removed their limit of 300 mg per day of dietary cholesterol. The EAT-Lancet Commission recommends eating 1.5 eggs per week; however, the report also stated that higher egg consumption could benefit individuals with poor diets, particularly low-income populations.
To clarify the association between egg intake and health outcomes, Dehghan and colleagues evaluated mortality, major CV events, major CVD, blood lipids and BP among participants from 50 countries enrolled in the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study and two other large prospective studies. Most of the 146,011 participants included from the PURE study did not have CVD, and all 31,522 participants from the other two studies in the analyses had a vascular disease.
Participants from all three studies completed food frequency questionnaires, which included questions on egg consumption. Researchers grouped participants based on the amount of eggs they consumed each week.
Within the PURE study, Dehghan and colleagues identified 8,932 deaths and 8,477 CVD events during 9.5 years of follow-up. Compared with eating less than one egg per week, researchers found that eating seven or more eggs per week was not significantly associated with death or CVD event (HR = 0.96; 95% CI, 0.89-1.04), total mortality (HR = 1.04; 95% CI, 0.94-1.15), major CVD (HR = 0.92; 95% CI, 0.83-1.01), or blood lipids after excluding those with a history of CVD.
Among participants with vascular disease enrolled in the other two studies, researchers found no significant association between higher egg consumption and risk for death or CVD event (HR = 0.97; 95% CI, 0.76-1.25), total mortality (HR = 0.88; 95% CI, 0.62-1.24) and major CVD event (HR = 0.97; 95% CI, 0.73-1.29).
In a random-effects model that included pooled data from all three cohorts, researchers found a slight decrease in risk for death or CVD event (HR = 0.98; 95% CI, 0.95-1).
Dehghan and colleagues explained that the findings suggest eating one egg per day does not increase the risk for CVD or mortality in people with or without CVD or diabetes.
“Our results of no association between moderate egg intake and health outcomes are generally consistent with the majority of previous studies,” Dehghan said. “We are providing new evidence and dietary guidelines should consider these findings.” – by Erin Michael
Disclosures: Dehghan reports no relevant financial disclosures.