Don't eggs endanger the heart?

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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Eggs are high in cholesterol. Therefore, their consumption has long been considered a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. But then various studies seemed to give the all-clear. Now it is becoming apparent that this could have been premature.

Nothing works in the body without cholesterol. It is an important part of the cell walls and is required for the production of various hormones and bile acid. But if the values ​​are too high, the risk of cardiovascular diseases increases: Because cholesterol, especially LDL cholesterol, promotes the deposition of plaques on the inner walls of the blood vessels - the resulting arteriosclerosis is the main cause of heart attacks and strokes.

Changing your diet only moderately lowers blood lipids

By switching to a low-cholesterol diet, the LDL cholesterol in the blood can usually only be reduced moderately. The reason is that the body makes most of the cholesterol itself. Because of this, many people with high cholesterol have to take lipid lowering drugs. Usually these are so-called statins.

Diets high in cholesterol have an impact

A current overview study shows, however, that the cholesterol content of the diet could play a bigger role than assumed. Researchers led by Victor W. Zhong from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago evaluated data from six studies with more than 29,000 participants.

Half an egg a day already has an effect

It showed that the daily intake of 300 mg of cholesterol increased the risk of a cardiovascular event such as heart attack and stroke by 3.2 percent. The overall risk of dying over the average study period of 17 years increased by 4.4 percent. For example, 300 mg of cholesterol can be found in one and a half eggs, 200 grams of shrimp or 80 grams of liver.

The number of eggs eaten also plays an independent role: with every additional half egg eaten, there was a 1.1 percent higher probability of cardiovascular disease and the risk of death rose by 1.9 percent. Factors such as smoking, exercise and the composition of the diet as a whole were taken into account in this analysis.

"More comprehensive than previous studies"

“The study is more comprehensive than previous studies. It contains enough data to underline that egg consumption and total cholesterol in the diet have a decisive influence on the risk of cardiovascular disease, ”writes Dr. Robert H. Eckel from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in an accompanying editorial. Although the impact on the individual is only moderate, it could have a significant effect on society as a whole.

Transferability to Europe is open

The authors themselves limit the fact that the established connection is not yet proof of cause and effect. Above all, it is not clear whether the results obtained in the USA can actually be transferred one-to-one to other countries - including Europe, for example. Because how the eggs were prepared in each case, the researchers could not see from the data. In regions where eggs are mostly eaten fried, the amount of cholesterol per egg meal could increase significantly.

In China, an egg is better than none

In fact, a recent study by a Chinese research team even found eggs to have a positive effect on the cardiovascular system. Participants who ate up to one egg per day were less likely to have a stroke or heart attack than participants who said they rarely eat eggs. In China too, eggs are often eaten in boiled form. It is possible that particularly healthy egg components such as vitamins, high-quality proteins, potassium and iodine could more than make up for the negative effects of cholesterol.

What matters is what you also eat

A final assessment of egg consumption is therefore still pending - especially because factors such as individual cardiovascular risk and a person's lifestyle also play a role. The influence of the rest of the diet is particularly great, according to the German Heart Foundation.

For example, the cholesterol level rises less sharply after eating eggs if a lot of unsaturated fatty acids are ingested at the same time, while many saturated fatty acids in the food make it rise particularly strongly. In short: you should avoid the bacon with the egg.

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