Egg is really a complicated food, and the scientific research about its nutrition is quite conflicting.
The latest egg study shows that eating egg every day is linked to better cardiovascular health.
This claim is quite surprising, because the conclusion is opposite made by previous research, which shows that eating eggs can be harmful to our heart.
One published study shows that eating egg yolks can hurt our coronary arteries in a similar manner to smoking cigarettes.
The study surveyed more than 1200 people, and the researchers found that regular eating egg yolks is about 2/3 as bad as smoking.
This is because eating egg yolk can increase the built-up of carotid plaque, which causes coronary artery disease and is a big risk factor for heart attack and stroke.
Therefore, eating whole eggs (including both egg white and egg yolk) can be harmful to the heart.
However, in another recent study, researchers from University of Sydney found that eating up to 12 eggs per week for a year did not increase cardiovascular risk.
The uniqueness of this study is that the participants were people with pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
The researchers said: “Despite differing advice around safe levels of egg consumption for people with pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes, our research indicates people do not need to hold back from eating eggs if this is part of a healthy diet.”
And now the Chinese study showed that eating egg at a moderate level (< 1 egg per day) was strongly linked to lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide, including China. In China, stroke and heart disease are the most responsible cause.
The researchers checked the health data from China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) study, an ongoing prospective study of around half a million (512,891) adults aged 30 to 79 from 10 different geographical areas in China.
The participants took part in the study during 2004-2008. They reported how often they ate eggs in daily life. The researchers followed these people’s health conditions for about 9 years.
The result shows that compared to people who did not eat eggs (9.1%), those who eat less than one egg per day (13.1%) had lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
What’s more, daily egg consumers (up to one egg/day) had a 26% lower risk of hemorrhagic stroke, a 28% lower risk of hemorrhagic stroke death, and an 18% lower risk of cardiovascular death.
Because this is an observational study, no causal relations between eating eggs and cardiovascular disease can be claimed.
The researchers suggest that while eggs are a source of dietary cholesterol, they also provide high-quality protein, many vitamins and bioactive components.
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