Eggs could increase risk of cardiovascular diseases: study

Deesha Bondre | Mar 22, 2019, 11:02 IST
Perhaps a breakfast food all over the world, eggs are are an inseparable part of most people’s diet. They are also considered one of the most wholesome, healthy foods we have around. Eggs boast a nutritional value that has vitamins, minerals like vitamin B5, iron potassium, calcium, manganese, zinc, folate, and vitamin E. But despite so many things riding in its favour, there is still a latent controversy about eggs being healthy.
The debate has been on for ages now. among all the studies conducted, there is but one recent research that tried to clear all these issues, according to TIME.
"Whether dietary cholesterol is associated with cardiovascular disease or death has been debated for decades. Positive, negative and [neutral] associations have been reported," shares study co-author Victor Wenze Zhong, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of preventive medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.
While there are other researches that claim eggs to be healthy, the said study proves that the dietary cholesterol found in eggs can pose a big threat for the body and can also cause heart diseases and early death. The research studied around 30,000 US adults with an average age of 51, which was able to debunk the truth behind egg’s nutrition. The study lasted for almost 31 years. During the duration of the research, Zhong and his colleagues found out that among all the participants, 6,100 people died and 5,400 of them eventually suffered from cardiovascular diseases.
But the research team concluded saying that there isn’t an exact number of eggs that are considered healthy, but one should be mindful of the number of eggs they consume, especially if they have a history of cardiovascular diseases.
"Limiting foods rich in dietary cholesterol, such as eggs, may be important to consider when choosing a healthy eating pattern," Zhong advises. "Egg whites, which are a rich source of high-quality protein without dietary cholesterol, can be used to replace whole eggs," the researcher added.
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