More Than Seven...

Middle-age men who ate seven or more eggs a week had a higher risk of death, US researcher reported.Men with diabetes who ate any eggs at all raised their risk of death during a 20-year period studied, according to the study published in the American Journal of Clinic Nutrition. The study adds to an ever-growing body of evidence, much of it contradictory, about how safe eggs are to eat. It did not examine what about the eggs might affect the risk of death.

Men without diabetes could eat up to six eggs a week with no extra risk of death. Dr Luc Djoisse and Dr J Michael Gaziano of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School found. “Whereas egg consumption of up to six eggs a week was not associated with the risk of all-cause mortality, consumption of seven or more eggs a week was associated with a 23 per cent greater risk of death,” they wrote.“However, among male physician with diabetes, any egg consumption is associated with the greater risk of all-cause mortality, and there was suggestive evidence for a greater risk of MI (heart attack) and stroke." They urged more study in the general population.

Eggs are rich in cholesterol, which in high amounts can clog arteries and raise the risk of heart attack and stroke.One expert on nutrition and heart disease said the study suggest middle-aged men, at least, should watch how many eggs they eat. “More egg on our faces? It’s really hard to say this point, but it is still seems, if you’re a middle-aged male physician and enjoy eggs more than once a day, that having it some egg left on your face may be better than having it go down your gullet,” said Dr Robert Eckel of University of Colorado and former president of American Heart Association.

“But, remember: eggs are like all other foods----they are neither ‘good’ nor ‘bad,’ and they can be part of an over-all heart-healthy diet.” Eckel wrote in a commentary, the much larger Physicians’ Health Study, which has been watching doctors since 1981 who have agrees to report regularly on their health and lifestyle habits.Over 20 years, 1,550 of the men had heart attacks, 1,342 have strokes, and more than 5,000 died.

“Egg consumption was not associated with heart attack and stroke,” the researchers wrote.
But the men who ate seven eggs a week or more were 23 per cent more likely to have died during the 20-year period.
Diabetic men who ate mostly eggs also were older, fatter, ate more vegetables but less breakfast cereal, and were more likely to drink alcohol, smoke and less likely to exercise ---- all factors that can effect the risk of heart attack and death.