New questions arise about health risks as eggs return – The Jolt Journal

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Americans consume about 280 eggs per person per year. This represents a significant increase in egg consumption compared to 10 years ago. The call to consume so many eggs came from dietary advice received in 2016 when US dietary guidelines dropped a longstanding recommendation for dietary cholesterol. Basically, it gave everyone the green light to consume more eggs regularly.

However, there are different news. According to a new study published in JAMA, a medical journal, reopens the debate on the risks of consuming too much dietary cholesterol. "We found in this study that if you ate two eggs a day, the risk of developing heart disease was increased by 27%," says researcher Norrina Allen, an badociate professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University. "It was surprising," Allen says.

in the JAMA study, researchers tracked the health of about 30,000 adults enrolled in long-term studies. On average, participants were followed for about 17 years. Previous studies have come to different conclusions, but overall there has been no strong evidence that limiting the consumption of high cholesterol foods decreases the amount of LDL cholesterol clogging. the arteries that is found in your blood.

It should be noted that this new study is an observational study, which means that it does not prove that cholesterol is at the origin of the increased risk of heart disease that researchers have documented. "These new discoveries provide some evidence," says Allen. It is also quite possible that different lifestyles or eating habits are responsible for the increased risk.

Although the study provides interesting details, there is one area where respondents were only asked about their diet once. Essentially, only one snapshot was given and may not be accurate enough to capture eating habits over time. "We hope that in future studies we will be able to see how long-term changes in diet can impact the risk of heart disease," Allen said. Since dietary cholesterol may vary from one person to another, future studies may explore these risks.

In the end, many experts claim that there is no reason to lose eggs in the diet. It is therefore not necessary to drop everything immediately. "Many data have already been published on this topic, which generally show that a low to moderate egg consumption (no more than one egg per day) is not badociated with a increased risk of heart attack or stroke, "Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, said in an email.

The best diet, a healthy diet and the best overall strategy is to focus on a well-balanced diet that includes different varieties of foods such as whole grains, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables. Thomas Sherman, a professor at the University of Georgetown's School of Medicine, agrees. "I tell my students that eating a high-protein breakfast is one of the best ways to avoid being hungry," says Sherman. "That's why I hate that they come back and say," Oh, no! We are not supposed to eat eggs.

Hamza Khalid is editor of the Jolt Journal. Follow him on Twitter. If you have any questions, concerns, or wish to post anything in this article, please send an email to Hamza Khalid at the address [email protected] This story can be updated at any time if new information surfaced.