The answer to the puzzle has been found by analysing data from three large, long-term multinational studies, revealed the study from McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
"Moderate egg intake, which is about one egg per day in most people, does not increase the risk of cardiovascular disease or mortality even if people have a history of cardiovascular disease or diabetes," study first author Mahshid Dehghan from McMaster University in Canada, said.
Dehghan further added, "Also, no association was found between egg intake and blood cholesterol, its components or other risk factors. These results are robust and widely applicable to both healthy individuals and those with vascular disease."
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Eggs despite being an inexpensive source of essential nutrients, some guidelines have recommended limiting consumption to fewer than three eggs a week due to concerns they increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Previous studies on egg consumption and diseases have been contradictory, according to the researchers.
For the findings, the researchers analysed three international studies conducted by the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI). Egg consumption of 146,011 individuals from 21 countries was recorded in the PURE study and in 31,544 patients with vascular disease from the ONTARGET and the TRANSEND studies. The results are widely applicable as the data from these three studies involved populations from 50 countries covering six continents at different income levels, said the researchers.
According to the study, there is no harm from consuming eggs. Given that the majority of individuals in the study consumed one or fewer eggs per day, it would be safe to consume this level, the researchers said.
"This is because most of these studies were relatively small or moderate in size and did not include individuals from a large number of countries," study researcher Salim Yusuf said.