Take It Easy on the Eggs

Eggs should only be a now and then thing, the latest research from Northwestern Medicine, in Chicago, indicates. The new study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, looked at pooled data on 29,615 U.S. racially and ethnically diverse adults with an average of more than 17 years of follow up. It found that for every 300 milligrams (mg) of dietary cholesterol eaten per day, risk of death from heart disease increases by 17 percent and mortality from any cause increases by 18 percent. One large egg has a whopping 186 mg of cholesterol in the yolk, and eating three to four eggs a week increases heart disease mortality by 6 percent and all-cause mortality by 8 percent. Frank Hu, M.D., at the Harvard School of Public Health, comments that low to moderate intake of eggs can be included as part of a healthy eating pattern, but they are not essential. Dietary cholesterol also comes from red meat, processed meat and high-fat dairy products such as butter and whipped cream.

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