Cholesterol in eggs may not hurt heart health

The once-maligned egg may not be a heartbreaker after all, new research suggests.

Finnish researchers say that even carriers of a gene -- called APOE4 -- that increases sensitivity to dietary cholesterol don't seem to have anything to fear when it comes to the impact of eggs, or any other dietary cholesterol, on heart health.

The findings followed the 20-year plus tracking of dietary habits among more than 1,000 middle-aged Finnish men. All were heart healthy at the study's start, and about a third carried the APOE4 gene, the researchers said.

Although the study didn't find a link between dietary cholesterol and adverse heart health, the study authors said they weren't able to prove that dietary cholesterol doesn't have a significant impact on cardiovascular disease. For example, one limitation of the study the authors noted was that they only collected dietary information at the start of the study, and had no way of knowing if people's diets changed over time.

Lona Sandon is a registered dietitian and assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. She said that while "everything in moderation" is the way to go, "people can feel confident about adding eggs, including the yolk, into their daily diet."

"Eggs are a powerhouse of nutrition," she said, "with much of that nutrition found in the yolk. The yolk has vitamin D, essential fats, choline, lutein, zeaxanthin, and more. Good for bones, good for the brain, and good for the eyes. [And] the white is a high quality protein, as well as a source of B vitamins."

"[So] an egg a day in the context of a healthy diet pattern does not appear to pose a risk for heart disease or impact dietary cholesterol according to current research," she said. "[But] an egg a day on top of buttery biscuits and gravy is not the way to go."

To read this article in its entirety, please click on the link below:

http://www.webmd.com/heart/news/20160216/cholesterol-in-eggs-may-not-hurt-heart-health-study

You can also read the article sources here:

Jyrki Virtanen, Ph.D., adjunct professor, nutritional epidemiology, University of Eastern Finland Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, Kuopio, Finland; Lona Sandon, R.D.. assistant professor, clinical nutrition, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas; Feb. 10, 2016, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

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