Moderate egg consumption not associated with heart disease risk: Study

Moderate consumption of eggs -- up to one per day -- is not associated with an increased risk of heart disease, according to a review of studies which may lead to new dietary recommendations.

The study, published in the journal The BMJ, assessed health data from 1,73,563 women, and 90,214 men who were free of cardiovascular heart disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes, and cancer.

The scientists, including those from Harvard University in the US, used repeated measures of diet during up to 32 years of follow-up to gain a detailed picture of potentially influential lifestyle factors in the participants like red meat consumption.

They also conducted the largest meta-analysis of this topic of 28 prospective cohort studies with up to 1.7 million participants.

"Recent studies reignited the debate on this controversial topic, but our study provides compelling evidence supporting the lack of an appreciable association between moderate egg consumption and cardiovascular disease," said study co-author Jean-Philippe Drouin-Chartier from Laval University in Canada.

The study did not find any association between moderate egg consumption and the risk of CVD.

While some evidence suggested that moderate egg consumption may be associated with lower CVD risk in Asian populations, the scientists believe this may be confounded by the overall dietary pattern.

Shilpa Bhupathiraju, study co-author from Harvard University, said that while moderate egg consumption can be part of a healthy eating pattern, it is not essential.

"There is a range of other foods that can be included in a healthy breakfast, such as whole grain toasts, plain yogurt, and fruits," she said.