Are eggs good for you? That’s a question that experts have been trying to figure out for a long time, with many studies devoted to this area of research. One area of interest is how eating eggs may affect people at a higher risk for cardiovascular disease problems. Recent study results researchers are presenting at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session suggest that eating a dozen fortified eggs a week does not have a significant impact on cholesterol compared to eating two or fewer eggs a week. While more research is needed to confirm the findings, the study suggests that eating fortified eggs doesn’t make cholesterol worse and even suggests there may be some benefits to eating fortified eggs
Eggs have been a common component of the human diet for many years. They contain many helpful nutrientsTrusted Source, such as protein, vitamin B12, iodine, and vitamin D. There are many options for egg types. Fortified eggsTrusted Source have a high level of nutrients because specific components are added to hens’ feed. In past years, one of the major concerns about eating eggs has been their cholesterol content and how this could impact the risk for cardiovascular disease and other health outcomes. The evidence appears to be somewhat conflicting. One recent reviewTrusted Source suggests that greater levels of egg consumption could increase total cholesterol and raise the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) to high-density lipoprotein(HDL) ratio. However, the review notes that there is also evidence that eating up to one egg a day may not majorly impact the risk for cardiovascular disease. Another umbrella reviewTrusted Source published in 2020 found that eating eggs was not associated with cardiovascular disease risk in the general population. However, the authors of this review noted that more research was needed to examine how eating eggs related to heart failure and whether it increased cardiovascular disease risk among people with diabetes. Another reviewTrusted Source suggested that eggs might actually play a role in decreasing cardiovascular disease risk. Non-study author Kelsey Costa, MS, RDN, registered dietitian nutritionist and founder of Dietitian Insights, noted the following.
This study examined the consumption of fortified eggs among people at a certain level of risk for poor cardiovascular outcomes. All participants were at least fifty, and 24% had diabetes mellitus. The average age of participants was sixty-six
Researchers divided 140 participants into two groups. One group was instructed to eat twelve or more fortified eggs each week, while the other was supposed to eat less than two eggs each week. The main outcome was examining cholesterol levels, specifically high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Researchers also examined levels of certain micronutrients, lipid levels, and cardiometabolic and inflammatory biomarkers.
When researchers compared the two groups, they found similar HDL and LDL changes. This indicates that consuming fortified eggs did not negatively impact cholesterol among participants