Over the past fifty years eggs have ranged from being a healthy source of nutrients to foods high in dangerous levels of cholesterol, and the pro- and anti-egg food nutritionists will no doubt continue to debate the advantages and disadvantages of egg consumption.
One slight step in the pro-egg direction has come from a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies across the past three decades, looking at whether the consumption of eggs decreases the risk of someone suffering from a stroke. The outcome, The Daily Telegraph reports, of this large data review is that eating eggs leads to a 12 percent decrease in the risk of a person having a stroke. This is a relatively modest reduction, although it is a reduction nonetheless.
The research has led by Dr. Dominik Alexander, who runs a department at the EpidStat Institute. Dr. Alexander and his team reviewed medical data and eating habits, from various studies, for 308,000 people. Data was collated between 1982 and 2015.
The headline figures from the research were that eating eggs each day had no link to coronary heart disease. In addition there was, with some of the participants, benefits related to a decreased risk of stroke. The number of eggs consumed each day is unspecified, as is the method of cooking them.
The researchers concluded: “consumption of up to one egg daily may contribute to a decreased risk of total stroke [all types of stroke] and daily egg intake does not appear to be associated with risk of coronary heart disease.”
Speaking with Bioscience Technology, Dr. Alexander puts forward a theory: “Eggs do have many positive nutritional attributes, including antioxidants, which have been shown to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation.”
He conjectures further: “They are also an excellent source of protein which has been related to lower blood pressure.” Eggs also contain vitamins A, D and E.
While the results are interesting, more research will be required to test the concept of egg consumption and strike risk. The research supports the idea that eggs can be part of a healthy diet, what else people were eating was not assessed. There was also no evidence that eating more eggs leads to a better health outcome, just that eating one egg or more had an association with a lowers stroke risk.
The research has been published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. The article is titled: “Meta-analysis of egg consumption and risk of coronary heart disease and stroke.”
Aside from the aforementioned study limitations, it is also important to point out that the research was funded by the U.S. Egg Nutrition Center, a trade association of egg producers.
