An egg a day may keep the doctor away, study claims

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For decades, experts warned that eating eggs raises levels of unhealthy cholesterol. But a study Tuesday said an egg a day may actually reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.

While outside experts cautioned against reading too much into the study, its authors claimed that Chinese adults who ate an egg every day had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

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Studying half-a-million healthy adults aged 30-79 over almost nine years, researchers concluded that "compared with non-consumers, daily egg consumption was associated with lower risk of CVD."

Risk of haemorrhagic stroke was 26 percent lower among egg-eaters, the Chinese-British research team reported in the journal Heart.

And daily egg consumption was associated with an 18 percent lower risk of death from CVD, and a 28 percent lower risk for death from hemorrhagic stroke.

CVD, a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels, is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide, including in China. While cholesterol is the main culprit for the CVD and eggs are rich in dietary cholesterol.

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Eggs are high in cholesterol, but eating eggs does not have adverse effects on cholesterol in the blood for the majority of people.

It's important to keep in mind that cholesterol in the diet doesn't necessarily raise cholesterol in the blood.

And compared to the amount of cholesterol we intake from the saturated fat, the level from eggs has much lower impact on the cholesterol in our blood.

So the truth is eggs are not the problem for cholesterol, saturated fat is.

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How many is enough?

According to the World Health Organization, about 17.7 million people die of CVDs each year, almost a third of all deaths worldwide.

People, especially in China, are frightening about eating too many eggs a day, since it has long been linked to a higher CVD risk.

But according to Dr Frankie Phillips, an expert from the British Dietetic Association, "One – even two – a day is absolutely fine." The concern of eating too much of one particular food will probably be missing out on other nutrients in other foods.

Source(s): AFP