CHICAGO — Not egg-specially good news if you happen to be a fan of eggs. According to a new study, eating too many delicious eggs can increase risks of heart disease and permanent sleep.
According to Northwestern Now, the large-scale Northwestern Medicine study examined pooled data on 29,615 U.S. racially and ethnically diverse adults from six prospective cohort studies for up to 31 years of follow up.
The study was published last Friday in the medical journal JAMA.
According to co-author of the study Norrina Allen, "the take-home message is really about cholesterol, which happens to be high in eggs and specifically yolks."
"As part of a healthy diet, people need to consume lower amounts of cholesterol. People who consume less cholesterol have a lower risk of heart disease."
One large egg can have up to 186 milligrams of dietary cholesterol in the yolk.
Eating less than 300 milligrams of cholesterol per day used to be the U.S. dietary guideline recommendation, until it was dropped in 2015.
The study found eating 300 mg of dietary cholesterol per day was associated with 17 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease and 18 percent higher risk of all-cause deaths.
The cholesterol was the driving factor independent of saturated fat consumption and other dietary fat.
They also found eating three to four eggs a week was associated with 6 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease and 8 percent higher risk of any cause of death.
So does this mean giving up eggs and red meat? Of course not—moderation is the key. And maybe cut out the daily three-egg breakfast omelette.
