Three or More Eggs a Week Increase Your Risk of Heart Disease and Early Death, Study Says (cnn.com)

It's been debated for years: Are eggs good or bad for you? People who eat an added three or four eggs a week or 300 milligrams of dietary cholesterol per day, have a higher risk of both heart disease and early death compared with those who eat fewer eggs, new research finds. From a report: "Eggs, specially the yolk, are a major source of dietary cholesterol," wrote Victor Zhong, lead study author and a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. In a study published this month in the medical journal JAMA, he and his colleagues noted that a single large egg contains about 186 milligrams of cholesterol. The researchers examined data from six US study groups including more than 29,000 people followed for 17 and a half years on average. Over the follow-up period, a total of 5,400 cardiovascular events occurred, including 1,302 fatal and nonfatal strokes, 1,897 incidents of fatal and nonfatal heart failure and 113 other heart disease deaths. An additional 6,132 participants died of other causes. Consuming an additional 300 milligrams of dietary cholesterol per day was associated with a 3.2% higher risk of heart disease and a 4.4% higher risk of early death, Zhong's analysis of the data showed. And each additional half an egg consumed per day was associated with a 1.1% higher risk of cardiovascular disease and 1.9% higher risk of early death due to any cause, the researchers found.

Comments

Re:Jeez

[squiggleslash]

What the hell are we supposed to do with this information?

Probably nothing. I love eggs but even taking into account a day where I might have an egg for breakfast, some mayo on a sandwich at lunch, and maybe a slice of cake for desert, I can't think of any way in which I've eaten three in one day. Not even if I've done those things and had two eggs in the morning (how much egg is in a slice of cake and a smear of mayo anyway?)

...which leads to the obvious question: is it possible that the kind of person who eats three eggs a day is also the kind of person with a high risk of heart disease due to his or her lifestyle? I mean, this is such an unlikely diet it's hard for me to believe anyone other than someone eating really badly and unhealthily is likely to have it.

How did the three-eggs-a-day people compare to the control group? Was there even a control group?