Egg Consumption and Risk of Heart Disease
August 1, 1999 less than 1 minute read
Egg Consumption and Risk of Heart Disease
Common wisdom has suggested that reduction in egg consumption may be beneficial for cholesterol lowering and, hence, reduced risk of cardiovascular end points. Though widespread in its intuitive appeal, there are few data to support such an intervention. This report used two ongoing prospective cohort studies—the Health Professional Follow-up Study (1986-1994) and the Nurses Health Study (1980-1984)—to assess the relationship of egg consumption and cardiovascular end points. Combined, the population of 117,933 men and women provides more than 1000 cardiovascular end points from which to derive associations.
There was no evident increased risk for any cardiovascular end point associated with egg consumption. This lack of increased risk was true whether subjects consumed less than one egg, 2-4 eggs, 5-6 eggs, or more than eight eggs per week.
In subgroup analysis, diabetic men and women had an increased risk of CHD when they consumed more than one egg per week (RR = 1.49-2.02). The observation that diabetic men and women demonstrated modest increased risk should stimulate further evaluation in this population in particular; postulates as to the diabetic-egg-CHD relationship include aberrancies in cholesterol transport from decreased apolipoprotein E and increased apolipoprotein C-III levels in diabetic patients.
Ho and associates conclude that egg consumption as high as 1 egg daily or greater is not associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular end points.
Ho FB, et al. JAMA 1999;281:1387-1394.
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