High egg intake poses no risk of cardiovascular events

People who like eating eggs do not seem to be at higher risk of myocardial infarction (MI), ischaemic coronary heart disease (ICHD), stroke, and cardiovascular disease (CVD), suggests the results of a recent study in Iran.

A total of 6,504 Iranian adults at least 35 years of age with no CVD event history at baseline were included in this prospective cohort study. A validated food frequency questionnaire was used to assess the frequency of egg consumption.

The investigators followed participants for 12 years and determined incidence of new CVD cases through active examinations and linkages to multiple registries. They used Cox frailty models to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for cardiovascular events associated with egg consumption.

Egg consumption showed no significant association with cardiovascular events over a median follow-up of 12 years in a model adjusted for age, sex, education, residency, smoking, daily physical activity, family history of CVD, metabolic syndrome, aspirin, body mass index, and Global Dietary Index.

Moreover, higher egg consumption (≥3 time/week) did not substantially correlate with incident MI (HR, 1.44, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.86‒2.41; p=0.48), ICHD (HR, 1.26, 95 percent CI, 0.80‒1.99; p=0.41), stroke (HR, 0.79, 95 percent CI, 0.46‒1.38; p=0.71), and CVD (HR, 1.05, 95 percent CI, 0.79‒1.40; p=0.93).

“Larger studies with longer duration of follow-up are warranted to explore these associations in populations with higher egg consumption,” the investigators said.