New Study Reexamines Role of Egg Consumption in Coronary Heart Disease

A recent meta-analysis has reportedly concluded that, contrary to previous assumptions, “higher consumption of eggs (up to one egg per day) is not associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease [CHD] or stroke.” Ying Rong, et al., “Egg consumption and risk of coronary heart disease and stroke: dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies,” British Medical Journal, January 2013. To investigate “the potential dose-response association between egg consumption and risk of [CHD] and stroke,” researchers analyzed eight articles with 17 reports totaling 3,081,269 person years and 5,847 incident cases for CHD and 4,148,095 person years and 7,579 incident cases for stroke.

The results evidently failed to show any significant association between consuming up to one egg per day and the risk of developing CHD or stroke, although in diabetics “higher egg consumption was associated with a significantly elevated risk of [CHD].” To explain these findings, the study’s authors not only suggested that the effects of dietary cholesterol on blood cholesterol concentrations “are relatively small,” but that “epidemiological studies have found weak or little association between dietary cholesterol intake and cardiovascular disease risk.”

“Apart from dietary cholesterol, saturated fat and dietary patterns might also influence blood cholesterol levels, suggesting that compliance with general dietary recommendations instead of simply reducing egg consumption could have a greater effect on the risk of cardiovascular disease,” they concluded. “Additionally, individual differences in response to dietary cholesterol vary greatly, which could affect the association between egg consumption and risk of coronary heart disease and stroke.”