It’s okay to eat eggs, even if you're concerned about your heart health. That’s according to a new study that looked at the cholesterol levels of people who ate eggs compared to those who didn’t.
The study, led by Dr. Nina Nouhravesh at the Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham, North Carolina, examined the effects of eating 12 or more fortified eggs per week on 140 patients with a high risk of cardiovascular disease over four months.
Fortified eggs contain less saturated fat and additional vitamins and minerals like vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids, typically through nutrient-enriched feed for the hens producing the eggs, a press release about the study said.
The study was funded by Eggland’s Best, one of the largest egg producers in the U.S.
The participants could eat the eggs however they chose — scrambled, boiled, fried, poached, etc. All were over the age of 50 and had to have had one prior cardiovascular event prior to the trial and two cardiovascular risk factors, like high blood pressure or diabetes.
Researchers measured the patients’ LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol, sometimes called “bad” cholesterol, and HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol, sometimes called “good” cholesterol, and other biomarkers after the four months was up.
According to a press release, the researchers did not observe an adverse effect on the cholesterol levels of those patients who ate 12 eggs per week compared to those who didn’t.
“This is a small study, but it gives us reassurance that eating fortified eggs is OK with regard to lipid effects over four months, even among a more high-risk population,” said Nouhravesh.
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