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 Eating egg yolks regularly increases plaque buildup about two-thirds as much as smoking does, according to a new study.
August 15th, 2012
05:38 PM ET
Is eating egg yolks as bad as smoking?A new study suggests eating egg yolks can accelerate heart disease almost as much as smoking. The study published online in the journal Atherosclerosis found eating egg yolks regularly increases plaque buildup about two-thirds as much as smoking does. Specifically, patients who ate three or more yolks a week showed significantly more plaque than those who ate two or less yolks per week. It may seem harsh to compare smoking with eating egg yolks, but lead study author Dr. David Spence says researchers needed a way to put it into perspective since both eating cholesterol and smoking increase cardiovascular risks - but the general public believes smoking is far worse for your health.
The issue is with the yolk, not the egg, says Spence, who is also a professor of neurology at the University of Western Ontario's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. "One jumbo chicken egg yolk has about 237 milligrams of cholesterol." Keeping a diet low in cholesterol is key, says Spence. Even if you are young and healthy, eating egg yolks can increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases later. "Just because you are 20 doesn't mean egg yolks aren't going to cause any trouble down the line," he says. Study: Egg yolk nearly as bad as smoking For those patients with increased coronary risk, such as diabetics, eating an egg yolk a day can increase coronary risk by two to five-fold, he adds. Atherosclerosis, also called coronary artery disease, occurs when plaque builds up in the blood vessels leading to the heart, specifically the inner arterial wall, and limits the amount of blood that can pass through. Doctors write a prescription for fresh produce In the study, researchers looked at 1,231 patients of the vascular prevention clinics at London Health Sciences Centre's University Hospital, with a mean age of 61.5. Each patient had already experienced a small stroke or had high blood pressure, hypertension or a family history of cardiovascular disease. Spence says researchers chose to use patients with a higher likelihood of cardiovascular issues because it would have been harder to get visible results using the general population with a lower risk. Patients were asked to fill out questionnaires about their diet, lifestyle and medications, including how much they smoked and the number of egg yolks they ate. An ultrasound was performed to examine their plaque buildup. Researchers took into account sex, cholesterol, blood pressure, smoking, body mass index and diabetes. In addition to relying completely on the recollection of patients as to what they ate, the study did not account for waist circumference and it did not account for a patient's exercise program. And perhaps most notably, it only looked at patients with existing cardiovascular issues. The study confirms what doctors already know about eating cholesterol and cardiovascular disease, says Dr, Gordon Tomaselli, chief of cardiology at John Hopkins University School of Medicine and the former president of the American Heart Association. "Cholesterol intake should be limited to 300 milligrams a day, particularly in people who do not have underlying heart disease," he says. However, people with high LDL blood cholesterol levels or those taking a blood cholesterol-lowering medication should eat less than 200 mg of cholesterol per day. So what can you do to keep your heart healthy? Talk to your doctor if you have a history of heart disease and consider a change in lifestyle – things like eating better, watching your cholesterol, stopping smoking, and exercising. soundoff (1,086 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next »Leave a Reply to Mike
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Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love.
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Bunch of B.S. Just recently, we were told to eat whole eggs because of all the nutrients (including good cholesterol). I have eaten lots and lots of whole eggs throughout my life (I'm 36), as did my great-grandmother who died last year just shy of 98! My cholesterol has always fluctuated between 130 and 180. Genetics is the main driver of obesity, cholesterol, and heart-related diseases. I am considered "morbidly obese" despite my low cholesterol, normal triglycerides, and normal blood pressure at age 36, and despite being hit on all the time and told I'm "hot." I have a full head of hair, a healthy glow, and look several years younger than my chronological age. These doctors and food-industry-driven studies can suck it!!
Genetics isn't the driver of obesity.
The main causes are cheap fast food meals and low food prices at Walmart.
Take a good look sometime at the overweight pigs with loaded shopping carts. Some of them are so obese they can't even walk, yet they continue to load up on as much food as possible.
Scott:
I completely agree! I read the other study as well and coming from a family that is prone to heart disease, genetics are more of a factor than anything else!
The next one will be about how coffee is bad/good for you!
Totally agree. I eat an egg everyday for breakfast and have excellent cholesterol. It's not fat, it's sugar that's the culprit.
I concur your posting Scott ! Exactly my thoughts !
This whole egg thing is a joke.. this year it’s bad for you, next year it’s not, BLAH BLAH BLAH... it’s all genetic anyways.. Why don’t the doctors just agree on that.. either your gonna get heart disease or your not... sheeeeeshh.. enough ! I'm gonna eat my eggs whether they say this or not.. We've all have been consuming them for hundreds of years, and steak to! My father has been eating 3 eggs a day since he’s been 12 and he’s 85 and healthy as a horse... so there !
From a study posted in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition:
"Because triglycerides can be formed from glucose, hepatic triglyceride production is accelerated when the diet is rich in carbohydrate. The additional triglycerides results in VLDL overproduction and may account for the occasional transient hypertriacylglycerolemia in normal people when they consume diets rich in simple sugars."
From "Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism", 6th Edition:
Contrary to widespread belief, changing the amount of cholesterol in the diet has only a minor influence on blood cholesterol concentration in most people. This is because compensatory mechanisms are engaged, such as HDL activity in scavenging excess cholesterol and the down-regulation of cholesterol synthesis by dietary cholesterol. It is well known, however, that certain individuals respond strongly, and others weakly, to dietary cholesterol. This phenomenon, which may have a genetic basis, is further complicated by the observation that considerable within-person variability exists independent of diet, a fact that clearly confounds the results of intersubject studies.
Several mechanisms may be considered when trying to account for differences in individual responses to dietary cholesterol, including differences in:
– absorbtion or biosynthesis
– formation of LDL and its receptor-mediated clearance
– rates of LDL removal and excretion
From a scientific study available on PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8780346):
"There was no increase in any candidate atherogenic particle (e.g., small very-low-density lipoprotein, IDL, or LDL) with the acute dietary cholesterol load. Thus, dietary cholesterol does not acutely alter postprandial lipoproteins to produce a more atherogenic profile except possibly in hypertriacylglycerolemic subjects."
You lost me at "morbidly obese"...
Only Americans would say that genetics is the main driver of obesity. GIVE ME A BREAK. Just another excuse to make fat people feel better about themselves.
Hmmm, we usually have eggs a couple or three times a week, usually two eggs and my cholesterol is 155 and HDL/LDL are good too so there are defenitely other factors that weigh into this. I really love eggs, I can eat breakfast meals for breakfast, lunch, or dinner anytime but have to of course do some extra excercising when having cheat meals. Sometimes it's worth it!!
Stupid article. Bread is bad for you, milk is bad for you, now eggs are bad for you. so what is left to eat? what will be next? water is bad for you?
...if the frackers get their way, yes, water WILL be bad for you!
Bread IS bad for you. It's processed food.
Actually too much water is not good for you.. LOL... but I agree, and the worst part is people believe what they say.. I eat eggs every day for breakfast, my cholesterol is good and so it's everything else. I do exercise 6 days a week. So instead of telling people that eggs are bad for you, tell people that exercising is good, that's why the vast majority of Americans are fat, because they don’t exercise and are over stressed.
Jane you are ignorant, if you buy white bread yes I'd say it is bad for you, but not all breads are bad for you... Read and do some re-search before making a fool of yourself in here. UGH!!
While a better much choice than white, whole wheat bread isn't anything great for health. It's inflammatory, and tough for the body to digest.
Wate IS bad for you. Didn't anyone read the article on the Scientists that studied ten people that were given bottled toilet water and they all got sick? LOL. I am being facetious but that is essentially how this Egg study was conducted.
Does it make any difference how you cook them? Seeing the inconsistencies of this "study", the data appears to be manufactured to get these specific results. Maybe these researchers fried them in Bacon grease (mmmm...bacon grease).
Its not the eggs, its the fake butter that we use to butter our bleached out white bread along with downing our coffee with the artificial sweetener and fake creamer.then proceeding to sit on our bottoms and type in responses to news articles that upset us, raising our blood-pressure.
That is exactly right.. it's not anything to do with the egg! Eggs are pure, whole food high in nutrients. It's the chemicals, trans-fats, and other garbage people put into their bodies that causes problems in the cardiovascular system.
People still eat white bread?
LoL! So true, I tried to drink a cup of coffee with the artificial creamer the other day and I was like ICK! I think I'll stick with half and half from now on thank you very much!
LOL, gosh you nailed it. That's correct.
Eggs are good for you. They are the complete food – everything you need is in them plus they are improving them all the time with the diet they give the chickens. I am past 75 and I eat them and have a good cholesterol level, including HDL,LDL and Triglyceride levels.
Let's see...my grandfather lived to be 99 years old and ate eggs everyday of his life. Perhaps this study is about eggs that are full of hormones, antibiotics, and meat containing feeds that theses chickens are fed living in a 1 x 1 foot space? I always side with Mother Nature...not man's invasive "knowledge" that's twisted depending on who wants to sell or not sell something. It's always a political issue....not what's really best for people.
This is not the first time "scientists" have told us eggs were bad for us. They said the same thing in the '70s and then changed their minds. They flip flop on foods over the years. This is bad for you then it's ok. Then something else is bad for you and then it's ok. I stopped listening to them and eat whatever I want and enjoy my foods.
that's crap, what else do the subjects eat? how can they pinpoint eggs? I'm sure the people in the study eat a crap load of carbs and sugar.Go look at someone's health who eats multiple eggs every single day and no sugar and if their cholesterol is high, then we'll have a debate.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7882850.stm
What a load of BS. Eggs are a wonderful food. I eat them 4-5 times a week. My cholesterol numbers are excellent. I recently has a cath to check my heart valves. The dr also checked my arteries and I have a 3 % plaque on them in only a couple of places. I'm 61 years old and I'll keep on eating my eggs where and where I want them.
"...where and where you want them"? Better go get a second opinion, Linda. 😉
Well, I love eggs and I eat them often. I am almost fifty and very healthy. These days, lots of things are said not to be nice for the body.
One day, we are gonna hear that water Isn't good for adults.
i like eggs i like bacon we eat eggs, bacon, toast, OJ, oranges, grapes with real butter every weekend. If I die from it so be it. Getting exercise and actually doing physical work will take care of this type eating. Putting good stuff into your body like fruits and veggies helps....A 1 or 2 times a week drinking of spirits coupled with the occasional smoke is the same way. Enjoy but dont abuse. Doctors and Food industry are riddled with crooks, liars and professionally bribed experts. Use common sense and understand your genetic disposition. One thing is for sure, we all are going to die. But not everyone learns how to enjoy and be thankful for their life.
Well said! I love it!
Unfortunately, common sense isn't. It's being bred out of people in favor of the sound bite.
Epidemiology should be banned for anyone with an agenda. Its too easy to use it to prove something you already just "KNOW" is true.
Like the "fact" that anything posted on the web immediately becomes "true"? LOL!
Lecithin in eggs prohibits the absorption of cholesterol. How this study seems to ignore this makes this appear to be biased and lacking in any scientific value.
I second that. I was told that by a medical professional about 30 years ago. Strange how some studies keep being done when knowledge is available that makes them unnecessary.
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/mediacentre/press/2008/1519_twoegg_diet_cracks_cholesterol_issue.htm
Wouldn't it be "Are" eating eggs yolks rather than "Is".
Mike: The subject of the sentence is the participle used as a noun "eating"; egg yolks is the object. Therefore, "Is eating egg yolks...." is grammatically correct.
Do your research people!!!!!!!!
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/mediacentre/press/2008/1519_twoegg_diet_cracks_cholesterol_issue.htm
Was this article written by a chicken?
it was actually a cow.
Yes. The boys all refer to her as "Rhode Island Red", but truth be told, she's never been east of Detroit.
It's not the Eggs that help lead to heart disease... Its the Bacon on the side, sausage on the side, pancakes, waffles, hotcakes with artery clogging butter/margarine smeared on top accompanied by thing and rich butter flavored syrup that causes Heart Issues... I'm sorry I have never had just plain eggs for breakfast... When I make eggs for breakfast, lunch, or dinner... they will always have 2-3 different friends on the plate with them...
So, these people in the study, that's ALL the ate was eggs? I don't see how you can single a food source for someone's high cholesterol. I'm 5'3" and weight 110 lbs and I don't eat a lot of eggs, maybe 4 or 5 a month, yet I have high cholesterol. The fact is your liver makes 80% of the cholesterol in your body, 20% is made from the food you eat. If you go on a low fat, low cholesterol diet for a month or two and you still have high cholesterol it means your liver is making more than it should.
High cholesterol is what the body does to make body repairs. High numbers are ok. That means the repairs are being done. Eating grain raises numbers because the body must make more repairs. Eating eggs lowers numbers because the body is making less repairs.
NO! You're not going to stop me from smoking my eggs!
In other words, eating egg yolks is NOT as bad as smoking. Moving on...
Yes, eggs are as bad as smoking. Because as we all know, eating eggs will give you deadly lung cancer.
Wait a minute...
You fool! What have you done!
You're not supposed to SMOKE the eggs!
We're doomed! Oh the humanity!
They used very high risk subjects, it’s no wonder they got the results they were looking for. You probably could have fed these people anything and got the same results. I have seen better "Studies" done in a high school science class. Hey Dr. David Spence I think your agenda is showing.
The problem is that "science" is so broad and there are so many different ways that different things and people react with other things. In this example, people who are already prone to heart disease and already have plaque build up are more susceptible to foods like egg yolks. That says NOTHING about the general population or the general healthiness of egg yolks. People look for quick fixes to things and blanket statements so that they can categorize everything in the world into "good " and "bad."
For example, a woman mentioned how she was really proud that she's lost a lot of weight recently. Another woman asks, "Oh I've been trying to lose weigh but can't, what'd you do?" Eat less and exercise more, there's no quick fix, no miracle food, everyone's body reacts to different foods differently, but people will keep trying to look for an easy way out.
here comes the ragged pseudo science propaganda – simply eat eggs in moderation and live your life – ignore this false science
more propaganda from the Vegan movement.
One thing the Vegans never tell you about is how plants scream when they're harvested. It's a measurable phenomenon.
Such a horribly biased and skewed article to be published...
"...looked at 1,231 patients of the vascular prevention clinics at London Health Sciences Centre's University Hospital, with a mean age of 61.5. Each patient had already experienced a small stroke or had high blood pressure, hypertension or a family history of cardiovascular disease."
1. Excellent choice of population to use for your study Dr. Spence. I have an idea! Let's go to a hospital, find patients that are predisposed to CV diseases who are probably already sedentary
2. If that's not enough let's also do the study at an age where metabolism has slowed down much below the average Canadian, and then compare it to a 20 year old!
3. Let's also NOT record the daily amount of cholesterol, nor account for fast food intake etc etc
Don't worry people.. Next month, same time eggs will be good for you... just like they say about coffee....
I quit listening to these so called EXPERTS a long time ago. And guess what? I am happier and healthier.
The report shows a correlation not a cause and effect. Maybe people who eat 3 eggs a week also eat a lot of saturated fats. – duh!
A thoughtful look at the issues with this "study" at http://www.marksdailyapple.com/are-eggs-really-as-bad-for-your-arteries-as-cigarettes/
From a study posted in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition:
"Because triglycerides can be formed from glucose, hepatic triglyceride production is accelerated when the diet is rich in carbohydrate. The additional triglycerides results in VLDL overproduction and may account for the occasional transient hypertriacylglycerolemia in normal people when they consume diets rich in simple sugars."
From "Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism", 6th Edition:
Contrary to widespread belief, changing the amount of cholesterol in the diet has only a minor influence on blood cholesterol concentration in most people. This is because compensatory mechanisms are engaged, such as HDL activity in scavenging excess cholesterol and the down-regulation of cholesterol synthesis by dietary cholesterol. It is well known, however, that certain individuals respond strongly, and others weakly, to dietary cholesterol. This phenomenon, which may have a genetic basis, is further complicated by the observation that considerable within-person variability exists independent of diet, a fact that clearly confounds the results of intersubject studies.
Several mechanisms may be considered when trying to account for differences in individual responses to dietary cholesterol, including differences in:
– absorbtion or biosynthesis
– formation of LDL and its receptor-mediated clearance
– rates of LDL removal and excretion
From a scientific study available on PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8780346):
"There was no increase in any candidate atherogenic particle (e.g., small very-low-density lipoprotein, IDL, or LDL) with the acute dietary cholesterol load. Thus, dietary cholesterol does not acutely alter postprandial lipoproteins to produce a more atherogenic profile except possibly in hypertriacylglycerolemic subjects."
Here is a fairly well reasoned responce to this article for those that are statistically minded. The problem is that the analysis is not quite right:
http://www.thefooddocs.com/is-eating-eggs-as-bad-as-smoking-statistics-sometimes-lie/
After reviewing this study in Atherosclerosis, it seems to be a quite confounded study and didn't correct for other dietary options. This is just conjecture, but I bet it would be found that those who eat that many eggs every week also eat a lot of bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, lots of other foods along with their eggs that would cause this significant jump. We do know that egg yolks do contain a high amount of cholesterol, but a person really needs to balance his/her diet and stop blaming it on one food.
"The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Don't eat eggs! Don't eat eggs!"
6 months later...
"The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Eat eggs! Eat eggs!"
6 months later...
"The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Don't eat eggs! Don't eat eggs!"
6 months later...
"The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Eat eggs! Eat eggs!"
6 months later...
"The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Don't eat eggs! Don't eat eggs!"
6 months later...
"The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Eat eggs! Eat eggs!"
6 months later...
A reputed news organization such as yours should do more careful due diligence before publishing such nonsensical clearly biased baseless skewed studies. If the professor is involved in improper research using invalid methods of research his professorship should be revoked keeping in view of the public interest and damage to the public of flawed research. Clearly the professor has not applied proper methodology and is in a hurry to publish something to keep his tenure and get his one day limelight. You should remove such nonsensical research before it creates undue panic in the public based on a ridiculous research.
AS John Kerry said he was against eggs before he was for them LOL.
Don't worry just the like the weather: if you dont like the study, wait 5 minutes. eggs will be good again
Well this article already negated the study as it said only people with known cardiovascular disease were studied. i cannot believe this study was even published, let alone put out there for the public. Those people could be allergic to eggs, or could be preparing them in a way that oxidizes the yolk. Until a study looks at people over the long haul, includes those who did not eventually have cardiovascular disease, includes all the other dietary hazards such as carbohydrate and grain intake, and looks at how the eggs were prepared, there is nothing to discuss and the study is pure hogwash!
PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT.
Genes kill some people, time kills the rest.
What were you guys out of topics this week?
Just this April: http://news.menshealth.com/the-best-breakfast-for-men/2012/04/26/
Three eggs a DAY and it HELPED cholesterol.
This study here on CNN is just mongering for a headline by using dishonest science (choosing people predisposed to plaque and heart disease because, to quote them, " chose to use patients with a higher likelihood of cardiovascular issues because it would have been HARDER TO GET VISIBLE RESULTS USING THE GENERAL POPULATION with a lower risk."). These studies come out every few months reversing the claims of the studies before. No one should take these scientists seriously.
Over the past 50 years there have been 9 cycles when eggs were good for you and 8 cycles when they were bad for you. So I quit eating eggs and stick to Cheerios – I eat mine fried... in lard.
that is without doubt one of the stupidest things I have ever heard , think I go eat my eggs now . let him go smoke I'm a healthy 74 never smoked but have ate eggs all my life.
I guess all of the PhD-holding scientists/doctors who made this claim are lying then? Or just misinformed? I imagine this experiment has been peer reviewed.
peer review is nothing more than an intellectual circle jerk amongst scientists, especially ones like this.
This was peer reviewed, so was the one with the opposite results in April, etc. Each of these is a reversal of a reversal of a reversal of a reversal, etc.. Fleecing the taxpayers for money to waste on these garbage studies.
I've read numerous places that it matters where the eggs came from as to how healthy they are. Buy the eggs from cramped, pumped-up-on-hormones chickens that stand in their excrement, then they are stressed and they don't produce the healthiest eggs. Buy eggs from chickens that actually peck around and eat a varied diet, and they have less cholesterol and are higher in nutrition. I personally don't love eggs (gives me the willies) but when I do eat them, I try to get them locally now.
"Evidence showing that eating a lot of dietary cholesterol doesn't increase blood cholesterol was discovered during a statistical analysis conducted over 25 years by Dr. Wanda Howell and colleagues at the University of Arizona. The study revealed that people who consume two eggs each day with low-fat diets do not show signs of increased blood cholesterol levels.
"So what does raise blood cholesterol? One of the main theories is that saturated fat does. Of the three types of fat (saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated), saturated fat raises blood cholesterol and LDL levels. It so happens that eggs contain mostly polyunsaturated fat, which can actually lower blood cholesterol if one replaces food containing saturated fat with eggs."
Source: http://www.askmen.com/sports/foodcourt_60/66_eating_well.html#ixzz23wI6Cslw
Just be active and watch your BMI. Blaming eggs is not gonna stop you from having a heart attack, but preventing your intakes that cause reaction to your body is more effective. For example, I don't eat much beef or pork because I break out with acne. I get sick or tired when I eat chocolates and sugary foods. Most importantly, listen to your body.
how much bacon are these people eating with those eggs? sausage? how much sugar in their coffee? there's a ton that this study doesn't account for. so much, that you really can't make any solid conclusions.
all processed foods are harmful for the Brain – it leads to lethargy and sedentary life causing heart disease.
Fresh Boiled Eggs taken daily (2 eggs)are good and egg yoke taken once/twice a week is not bad – egg yoke contains niacin and other vitamins
I switched from a cereal & soy milk breakfast to one based on scrambled eggs. Weight went down, cholesterol went down, total lipids went down, year on year.
You don't get fat from eating fat. You don't get increased cholesterol from eating cholesterol. It's what the body does with sugars and modern wheat varieties that causes the harm.