A new study has found that eating between one and six eggs each week significantly reduces the risk of dying from any cause but particularly from heart disease – even in people who have been diagnosed with high cholesterol levels.
Whether eating eggs is good for you is something that has been debated for decades. That they’re packed with beneficial nutrients, including high-quality protein, is offset by the frequently cited concern about cholesterol content and its impact on heart disease.
Now, a new study led by Monash University researchers has revisited the subject of egg consumption, specifically examining its association with death from heart disease in older adults, an area in which research is limited.
“Eggs are a nutrient-dense food, they are a rich source of protein and a good source of essential nutrients, such as B vitamins, folate, unsaturated fatty acids, fat-soluble vitamins (E, D, A, and K), choline, and numerous minerals and trace elements,” said Holly Wild, PhD candidate and lecturer from the Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and the study’s lead and corresponding author. “Eggs are also an accessible source of protein and nutrition in older adults, with research suggesting that they are the preferred source of protein for older adults who might be experiencing age-related physical and sensory decline.”
The researchers analyzed data from 8,756 Australian and American adults aged 70-plus who participated in the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) study and one of its sub-studies, the ASPREE Longitudinal Study of Older Persons (ALSOP) study. As part of the latter study, participants self-reported their total egg intake, which was categorized as never/infrequently (never or one-to-two times a month), weekly (one-to-six times a week), and daily (daily or several times a day). The association between egg intake and all-cause and cause-specific mortality – in this case, cardiovascular disease and cancer – was assessed after adjusting for sociodemographic, health-related and clinical factors, and overall diet quality. The follow-up period was close to six years.
Participants who fell into the weekly category of egg consumption, that is, they consumed one to six eggs per week, had a 29% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a 17% lower risk of dying from any cause compared to those participants who ate eggs never or infrequently. There was no statistically significant association between egg consumption and deaths due to cancer.
When the researchers examined the impact of diet quality on the relationship between egg consumption and cardiovascular mortality risk, they found that participants who ate a moderate- and high-quality diet and who consumed eggs weekly demonstrated a 33% and 44% lower cardiovascular mortality risk compared to those who never/infrequently consumed eggs.
“Our primary results for CVD [cardiovascular disease] mortality are maintained for those with moderate to high dietary quality, with a slightly lowered risk observed for those with a higher quality diet, suggesting that dietary quality may play a further protective role in the association between egg consumption and mortality,” the researchers said.
Interestingly, and in contrast to the findings of some previous studies, the researchers found that regardless of the presence of unhealthy cholesterol or fat levels in the blood, called dyslipidemia, the association between weekly egg consumption and lowered cardiovascular mortality risk was maintained.
“Previous research has observed a higher risk of mortality with egg consumption for those who have high cholesterol,” said Wild. “For this reason, we also explored the association between egg consumption and mortality in people with and without dyslipidemia (clinically diagnosed high cholesterol). We found a 27% lower risk of CVD-related death for participants with dyslipidemia who consumed eggs weekly, compared to their counterparts that consumed eggs rarely or never, suggesting that in this study cohort, the presence of dyslipidemia does not influence the risk associated with egg consumption.”
Currently, the American Heart Association says that healthy people can eat one whole egg each day and that “older people with healthy cholesterol levels can have two” because of the nutritional value they provide. The Australian Dietary Guidelines and Australia’s Heart Foundation similarly recommend that adults with normal cholesterol can eat up to seven eggs a week.
“Our results suggest that eating up to six eggs a week may reduce the risk of death from all causes and cardiovascular-related diseases in older adults,” Wild said. “These findings may be beneficial in the development of evidence-based dietary guidelines for older adults.”
The study was published in the journal Nutrients.
Source: Monash University
