New findings on the relationship between cholesterol level and heart diseases reveal that eating just half an egg daily increases your risk of developing cardio vascular ailments.
The findings are contained in a study published on March 19 by Jamanetwork led by Dr Victor Zhong from the Department of Preventive medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
“Each additional 300 milligrams of dietary cholesterol consumed per day was significantly associated with higher risk of incident to cardio vascular disease and all-cause mortality,” read the study.
The study involved 29,615 adults pooled from six prospective cohort studies all done in the US between March 1985 and August 2016.
Of the 26,615, there were 5,400 incidents of cardio vascular disease and 6,132 deaths as a result.
“The associations of dietary cholesterol or egg consumption with cardio-vascular disease incident and all-cause mortality were monotonic (almost going hand in hand),” read the study in part.
The study’s main objective was to find the association between cholesterol or consumption of eggs with incidents of cardio-vascular diseases, and the study seems to have found a definite answer.
The researchers acknowledged that for long, there has been skepticism between the eggs and heart related ailments.
This is because eggs are a major source of cholesterol nutrients in human diet. It is involved in production of vitamin D, production of key hormones like testosterone and adrenal.
Cholesterol also helps in production of bile which is key in absorption of nutrients.
“Cholesterol is a common nutrient in the human diet and eggs are a major source of dietary cholesterol. Whether dietary cholesterol or egg consumption is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality remains controversial,” the study reads.
Cardio vascular disease, according to Mayoclinic.org refer to ailments that are caused by blocked or narrowed blood vessels. Such conditions can lead to a heart attack, or stroke and possible death.
In Kenya, cardio-vascular disease have been linked to poor lifestyle choices among them weight gain, and unhealthy foods, high in cholesterol levels.
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Credit: Standard Media
