JAMA: eating more cholesterol in eggs increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and early death

June 6, 2019 / BIOON / - as the number of eggs a person eats increases, so does the risk of heart disease and death, according to nutrition experts at UMass Lowell Researchers followed the diet, health and lifestyle of nearly 30000 adults across the country for 31 years and found a link between the cholesterol gained from consuming eggs in large quantities and poor health Katherine Tucker, Professor of biomedical and nutritional sciences at UMass Lowell's Zuckerberg School of Health Sciences, led the study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Photo source: the findings of the Journal of the American Medical Association come as egg consumption in the United States continues to rise According to the U.S Department of agriculture, the average American ate 279 eggs a year in 2017, compared with 254 in 2012 The current dietary guidelines in the United States do not give advice on how many eggs each person should eat per day Tucker said the guidelines are updated every five years, but do not include this one, because nutrition experts have come to believe that the driver behind high cholesterol levels is saturated fat, not eggs However, she said by 2015, the guidelines did recommend that individuals consume no more than 300 milligrams of cholesterol a day According to the U.S Department of agriculture, a large egg contains nearly 200 milligrams of cholesterol, roughly equivalent to an 8-ounce steak Other foods with high cholesterol include processed meat, cheese and high-fat dairy products The new study on eggs, which did not provide specific recommendations for consumption of eggs or cholesterol, found that every additional intake of 300 mg of cholesterol beyond the baseline of 300 mg per day was associated with a 17% higher risk of cardiovascular disease and an 18% increased risk of death in women Tucker said it was "reasonable" to eat a few eggs a week, which contain nutrients that are good for your eyes and bones "But I suggest people avoid three omelets a day Nutrition is moderation and balance "The results also showed that participants' exercise programs and overall dietary quality, including the amount and type of fat they consumed, did not change the link between cholesterol in a person's diet and the risk of cardiovascular disease and death "This is a very convincing study because the model is adjusted for factors such as diet quality," Tucker said Even for healthy people, the harmful effects of eating more eggs are consistent with those of cholesterol "Reference: Victor W Zhong et al, associations of dietary cholesterol or egg consumption with incident cardiovascular disease and mortarity, JAMA (2019) Doi: 10.1001/jama.2019.1572