Eggs consumption could cut risk of heart disease - study

Consuming up to one egg daily could be linked with lower rates of strokes and heart disease, according to new research. 

An egg a day may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, a new study suggests.

Consumption of up to one egg daily was linked with lower rates of strokes and heart disease, according to the research published in the journal Heart.

Daily consumers also had a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease when compared to those who did not eat eggs.

The researchers, from Peking University Health Science Centre, examined data from 416,213 participants in China.

At the start of the study, 13 per cent of participants reported daily consumption of eggs and 9 per cent said they never or rarely ate them.

The group were followed up nine years later, with daily egg consumption found to be linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease overall.

Those who ate up to one egg a day had a 26 per cent lower risk of haemorrhagic stroke, 28 per cent lower risk of haemorrhagic stroke death and an 18 per cent lower risk of cardiovascular disease death, the study found.

This present study finds that there is an association between moderate level of egg consumption (up to one egg per day) and a lower cardiac event rate, the authors wrote.

Previous studies examining the impact of eggs on health have been inconsistent and most have found insignificant associations between consumption and coronary heart disease or stroke.

Professor Nita Forouhi, of the MRC epidemiology unit at the University of Cambridge, said:

The take home message of this research from a large study from China is that at the very least up to one egg a day is not linked with raised cardiovascular risk, and at best up to one egg a day may even have health benefits.