Consuming up to one egg per day does not appear to be
associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, according to a new study and
meta-analysis led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
"Recent studies
reignited the debate on this controversial topic, but our study provides
compelling evidence supporting the lack of an appreciable association between
moderate egg consumption and cardiovascular disease," said first author
Jean-Philippe Drouin-Chartier, visiting scientist in the Department of
Nutrition and assistant professor at Laval University in Québec, Canada. The
study will be published online March 4, 2020 in the BMJ.
The
relationship between egg consumption and CVD risk has been a topic of intense
debate in the scientific community in recent decades. Just in the past 12
months, three published studies have reported conflicting results.
The
new findings update a 1999 study -- the first major analysis of eggs and
cardiovascular disease -- that found no association between eggs and CVD risk.
That study was led by Frank Hu, Fredrick J. Stare Professor of Nutrition and
Epidemiology, chair of the Department of Nutrition, and a co-author of the
current study.
For
this study, researchers analyzed health data from 173,563 women and 90,214 men
participating in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) I and II, and the Health
Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS) who were free of CVD, type 2 diabetes, and
cancer at baseline. They used repeated measures of diet during up to 32 years
of follow-up to gain a detailed picture of potentially confounding lifestyle
factors such as high body mass index and red meat consumption. The researchers
also conducted the largest meta-analysis of this topic, including 28
prospective cohort studies with up to 1.7 million participants.
The
analysis of NHS and HPFS participants found no association between moderate egg
consumption and risk of CVD. Results from the meta-analysis supported this
finding in U.S. and European populations; however, some evidence suggested that
moderate egg consumption may be associated with lower CVD risk in Asian
populations although this may be confounded by the overall dietary pattern.
Study
co-author Shilpa Bhupathiraju, research scientist in the Harvard Chan School
Department of Nutrition and associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's
Hospital, said that while moderate egg consumption can be part of a healthy
eating pattern, it is not essential. "There is a range of other foods that
can be included in a healthy breakfast, such as whole grain toasts, plain
yogurt, and fruits."
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