No need to panic over eggs health scare
Publication Date:11/04/2008
A new study says eating eggs every day is linked to a risk of dying earlier, at least for middle-aged men. But there are serious problems with the research that make it hard to trust the results. Eggs can still form part of a healthy, balanced diet.
What do we know already?
It's common to see stories in newspapers or on the internet claiming that particular foods are good or bad for your health. It gets even more confusing when foods that were once supposed to be healthy are later described as being bad for you.
The problem comes from looking at individual foods on their own. In reality, there's no such thing as 'good' or 'bad' foods. What matters is whether your overall diet is healthy.
Eggs are a good example of a food where the health advice seems to be constantly changing. On the one hand, eggs are a good source of protein, vitamin A, vitamin B and vitamin D. On the other, eggs contain cholesterol, which is usually thought of as being bad for you.
What does the new study say?
A new study looking at middle-aged male doctors found that the men who ate eggs more than once a day had a slightly higher chance of dying, during the 20 years they were studied. But it's worth looking a bit closer at the research, to see whether it's reliable enough to tell us anything useful.
Where does the study come from?
The study was done by researchers from Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. It appeared in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, published by the American Society for Nutrition.
How reliable are the results?
There's one big problem with the study. It didn't look at what else the men were eating apart from eggs. So, the men who ate eggs every day might have been eating them as part of a cooked breakfast, with fatty bacon and sausages, and fried bread. Their overall diets may have been very unhealthy. The men who ate fewer eggs may have eaten the odd poached egg, and spent the rest of their time eating wholemeal bread, fresh fruit and vegetables. The point is, we don't know. This makes it very hard for the study to tell us anything useful.
There's also another reason to be suspicious. It's true that eggs contain cholesterol. But the amount of cholesterol we get from food doesn't appear to be all that important. Unhealthy fats, such as saturated or trans fats, play a much bigger role in raising your cholesterol level.
And if eggs really were harmful, you'd expect it to be because the extra cholesterol blocked people's arteries and increased their risk of heart disease. But the men in the study weren't dying of heart disease. Eating eggs was linked to a higher chance of dying of other causes, but not to heart problems or a stroke. So, that's another good reason to wonder whether the results of this study are reliable.
What does this mean for me?
It often seems as if there are all sorts of conflicting messages about what makes a healthy diet. But the basic principles of healthy eating are quite straightforward. You probably already know them:
- Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables
- Eat starchy foods such as wholegrain bread, pasta and rice
- Avoid eating too much fat, sugar and salt.
The Food Standards Agency is the organisation that advises on food safety in Britain. It says there's no recommended limit on the number of eggs people eat.
What should I do now?
There's no need to change what you eat based on this study. Eggs, like any food, are fine to enjoy in moderation, as part of a balanced diet. According to one doctor, commenting on the study, "eggs are like all other foods: they are neither 'good' nor 'bad', and they can be part of an overall heart-healthy diet".
From:
Djoussé L, Gaziano JM. Egg consumption in relation to cardiovascular disease and mortality: the Physicians' Health Study. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2008; 87: 964-969.
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This information does not replace medical advice. If you are concerned you might have a medical problem please ask your Boots pharmacy team in your local Boots store, or see your doctor.
