For years, nutritionists told us that eating eggs would raise our cholesterol and give us heart disease…then they changed their tune and announced that eggs were perfectly fine. Now a study by researchers at Canada’s Western University is bashing eggs anew, claiming that they’re almost as bad for our hearts as smoking.
When I heard about the study, it didn’t sound right to me. My grandfather, a South Dakota farmer, ate two eggs for breakfast every morning and lived to age 86. My uncle ate eggs habitually, too, and lived to be 93. Neither one had heart problems.
Of course, a pair of egg-loving relatives doesn’t necessarily prove that eggs are safe—some smokers beat the odds and live long lives. That’s why I was relieved to hear that experts are questioning the latest egg warning as well.
David Katz, MD, MPH, founding director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center, says we can safely ignore the Western University study. The study’s finding that people who ate eggs regularly are particularly likely to have heart disease probably is accurate, he says, but the study is wrong to conclude that eggs are to blame. The Canadian study failed to control for the other eating and lifestyle habits of those surveyed—a crucial mistake, Katz explains.
For example, eggs often are paired with bacon, sausage or steak—foods that absolutely are proven to be bad for our hearts unless eaten sparingly. “We have a lot of other better-controlled studies that have found just about no association between egg consumption and heart disease,” says Katz.
So hold the bacon, and add veggies to your breakfast. Katz recommends omelets full of peppers, onions, tomatoes and mushrooms. Now that’s good for our health.
Source: Karen Astrid Larsen, editor of Bottom Line Personal.
When I heard about the study, it didn’t sound right to me. My grandfather, a South Dakota farmer, ate two eggs for breakfast every morning and lived to age 86. My uncle ate eggs habitually, too, and lived to be 93. Neither one had heart problems.
Of course, a pair of egg-loving relatives doesn’t necessarily prove that eggs are safe—some smokers beat the odds and live long lives. That’s why I was relieved to hear that experts are questioning the latest egg warning as well.
David Katz, MD, MPH, founding director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center, says we can safely ignore the Western University study. The study’s finding that people who ate eggs regularly are particularly likely to have heart disease probably is accurate, he says, but the study is wrong to conclude that eggs are to blame. The Canadian study failed to control for the other eating and lifestyle habits of those surveyed—a crucial mistake, Katz explains.
For example, eggs often are paired with bacon, sausage or steak—foods that absolutely are proven to be bad for our hearts unless eaten sparingly. “We have a lot of other better-controlled studies that have found just about no association between egg consumption and heart disease,” says Katz.
So hold the bacon, and add veggies to your breakfast. Katz recommends omelets full of peppers, onions, tomatoes and mushrooms. Now that’s good for our health.
Source: Karen Astrid Larsen, editor of Bottom Line Personal.
Publication: Bottom Line Personal
Original publication date: October 15, 2012
