Eating Eggs Might Actually Protect Your Heart, Not Harm It, Study Suggests

Breakfast just got a reprieve. After decades of dietary guilt trips over the incredible edible egg, new research suggests that your morning omelet might not be plotting against your heart after all.As always, take the findings with a grain of salt (the comprehensive scientific review was published in the Journal of Poultry Science). But the researchers analyzed evidence from clinical trials, observational studies, and population data across 142 countries, arriving at a conclusion that contradicts generations of medical advice: For most people, moderate egg consumption doesn’t appear to increase heart disease risk and may even offer some protection.“Among patients not receiving lipid-lowering drugs, moderate egg intake (3-4 eggs/week) was associated with a lower prevalence of multi-vessel disease,” the researchers said in their report. “Furthermore, worldwide ecological analyses have identified a significant negative association between egg intake and the incidence and mortality of ischemic heart disease. Given their high nutritional value, relatively low cost, and the evidence presented, eggs could contribute to healthy diets in many countries worldwide,” they said.The new research challenges the long-held assumption that dietary cholesterol directly translates to arterial damage. For years, doctors warned patients to limit eggs due to their cholesterol content, with health guidelines urging restraint. Millions swapped yolks for egg whites, worried that breakfast might be quietly undermining their health.But the evidence paints a more nuanced picture. A meta-analysis of 28 randomized controlled trials found that while eating eggs produces modest increases in both total cholesterol and LDL (the “bad” cholesterol), HDL (the “good” cholesterol) rises simultaneously. The ratio between the two — a clinically important marker of heart disease risk — remains stable. Researchers estimate the total cholesterol increase from egg consumption amounts to just 2 to 3 percent per egg, significantly less than the impact of saturated fats from red meat and butter.Population-level data from 142 countries tracking egg intake and heart disease rates from 1990 to 2018 showed that countries with higher egg consumption tended to have lower rates of ischemic heart disease incidence and death. A large international study involving roughly 177,000 people across 50 countries found no significant connection between egg intake and cardiovascular events or mortality. Perhaps the most compelling evidence comes from Japan, where adults consume eggs at nearly double the global median rate, yet the country consistently reports among the lowest rates of ischemic heart disease. While researchers caution that country-level comparisons identify associations rather than causes, the contradiction helped motivate the research.The findings align with a bold self-experiment conducted last year by Nick Norwitz, a doctorate student at Harvard University. Mr. Norwitz consumed 720 eggs over one month — 24 per day — to test the prevailing belief about eggs and cholesterol. Contrary to expectations, his LDL cholesterol levels dropped by 18 percent.“I hypothesized that eating 720 eggs in one month, which alone amounts to 133,200 mg of cholesterol, would not increase my cholesterol. Specifically, it would not increase my LDL cholesterol,” Mr. Norwitz said.“And, indeed, it didn’t, not a smidge,” he added. “Even though my dietary intake of cholesterol more than quintupled, my LDL cholesterol actually dropped.”The accumulated evidence suggests that blanket warnings about eggs may have been too blunt. For most people eating a reasonably balanced diet, eggs appear far less dangerous than decades of dietary advice suggested.

Eating Eggs Might Actually Protect Your Heart, Not Harm It, Study Suggests

More from the New York Sun

The GOP Will Beat History in the Midterms by Sticking to Its America-First Values

Mamdani Wins Release of Columbia Student Detained by DHS After ‘Productive’ Meeting on Housing With Trump

Judge Rejects ‘Ragtag’ Theories in Lawsuit Seeking To Halt White House Ballroom Project

More from the New York Sun

The GOP Will Beat History in the Midterms by Sticking to Its America-First Values

Mamdani Wins Release of Columbia Student Detained by DHS After ‘Productive’ Meeting on Housing With Trump

Judge Rejects ‘Ragtag’ Theories in Lawsuit Seeking To Halt White House Ballroom Project

Lawrence Summers’s Due Process

Arab Diplomats Help Undermine Palestinian Attempt To Win UN Leadership Position

In This Divisive Movie Star Era, Is Margot Robbie So Popular Because She’s Actually Enjoying Herself?

Hillary Clinton’s Epstein Deposition Is Paused After GOP Lawmaker Leaks Photo to Conservative Podcaster

Bill O’Reilly To Sub In for NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo, Vows To ‘Bring Back’ the Format of ‘The O’Reilly Factor’