In healthy adults, consuming two eggs daily for 6 weeks does not have a harmful effect on endothelial function - an aggregate measure of cardiac risk - nor does it increase cholesterol levels. This suggests that eating eggs may not be as bad for the heart as many people contend. Because of the cholesterol content of eggs, limiting their consumption is generally recommended as a way to reduce cardiac risk. However, emerging evidence suggests that dietary cholesterol has a much smaller effect on this risk than does saturated fat. Researchers from the Yale Prevention Research Center in Derby, Connecticut, evaluated the effect that egg and oat consumption had on endothelial function in 49 healthy adults. Poor endothelial function is suspected of being an early sign of artery disease. During the study period, flow-mediated dilation (FMD), a measure of how well the endothelium, the lining of the blood vessel, acts to keep blood moving by widening the vessel, was stable in both groups and did not differ significantly between them. It was found that egg intake did not cause an increase in either total or LDL cholesterol levels. By contrast, oat consumption significantly lowered levels of both. Nevertheless, this may not be the case in patients who already have elevated lipids, a group at increased risk for endothelial dysfunction. The researchers emphasise on the need for further research with adults with hyperlipidaemia to determine if the current results apply to this group as well.
International Journal of Cardiology,
March 2005