Heart, diabetes not affected by eggs, study finds

Even eating 12 eggs per week doesn’t affect cardiovascular health or create risks for people with pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes, a study has found.

The study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure were not affected by a diet including one to 12 eggs per week.

This finding contradicts research accepted since the 1970s that linked eggs to higher cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease. Since that time people have been advised to eat no more than four eggs per week. However, researchers today have a greater understanding of the effects of cholesterol.

The new study by the Sydney University Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise and Eating Disorders studied two groups of volunteers with pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes. The first group could eat two eggs each week. The second could eat a dozen eggs per week.

For the first three months, all volunteers maintained their weight. During the next three months, all were asked to lose weight. In the final six months, all chose their own weight goals.

During each phase of the study, volunteers were tested for negative markers for diabetes or cardiovascular risk. No adverse markers were found. Weight loss outcomes were found to be identical for low egg eaters and high egg eaters.

Nick Fuller, who led the study, said that while eggs themselves are high in dietary cholesterol, consumption of eggs has little impact on the levels of cholesterol in the blood. He noted that eggs are a good source of protein and micronutrients that may help to regulate the intake of fat and carbohydrates and help with eye and heart health, healthy blood vessels and healthy pregnancies, according to Cosmos Magazine.