Eggs Do Not Cause Heart Attacks

Eggs have not been shown to increase risk for heart attacks, according to an an extensive review of the world’s scientific literature in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine (July-August 2009). For example, the Physician’s Health Study followed doctors for 20 years and showed no association between eating eggs and heart attacks or strokes. However, the doctors who ate lots of eggs did die earlier than those who avoided eggs, possibly because they also ate more bacon, sausage and butter.

The concern that eating eggs can cause heart attacks comes from the fact that eggs are one of the most concentrated sources of dietary cholesterol. Indeed, adding one egg per day can raise blood cholesterol levels by one to three percent. However, virtually all large population studies show no association between eating eggs and blood cholesterol levels. In fact, the Framingham Heart Study and NHANES study found that high-egg eaters had lower cholesterol levels than very-low eggs eaters (For journal references on all of the studies mentioned here see http://www.drmirkin.com/nutrition/8866.html).

Current opinion is that some people have their blood cholesterol levels raised by eating eggs, while others do not. Indeed, 70 percent of Americans will not have their cholesterol levels affected by eating eggs. Furthermore, those who did have their cholesterol levels raised by eating eggs, had rises in both their good HDL and bad LDL cholesterol levels and also had higher large particle cholesterol that prevents heart attacks. Both rises in the good HDL cholesterol and cholesterol particle size help to prevent heart attacks.

I have started to eat eggs again after avoiding them for more than forty years. I continue to load my plate with lots of vegetables and fruits, and eat reasonable amounts of fish. I avoid all meat from mammals. I avoid all refined carbohydrates except during and immediately after exercise. For the diet I recommend see http://www.drmirkin.com/heart/8614.html

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About dr.gabe.mirkin

A practicing physician for more than 40 years and a radio talk show host for 25, Dr. Mirkin is a graduate of Harvard University and Baylor University College of Medicine. He is one of a very few doctors board-certified in four specialties: Sports Medicine, Allergy and Immunology, Pediatrics and Pediatric Immunology.

Dr. Mirkin's latest book is The Healthy Heart Miracle, published by HarperCollins. He wrote the chapter on sports injuries for the Merck Manual (both lay and physicians' editions), the largest selling book worldwide with over one million copies in print. His daily short features on fitness have been heard on CBS Radio News stations since the 1970's. He has written 16 books including The Sportsmedicine Book, the best-selling book on the subject that has been translated into many languages. More books

Dr. Mirkin did his residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital and over the years he has served as a Teaching Fellow at Johns Hopkins Medical School, Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, and Associate Clinical Professor in Pediatrics at the Georgetown University School of Medicine.

Dr. Mirkin has run more than forty marathons and is now a serious tandem bike rider with his wife, Diana, often doing 30-60 miles in an outing.

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3 Responses to Eggs Do Not Cause Heart Attacks

  1. Rose January 14, 2010 at 3:19 pm #

    It's not the eggs – it's what they're cooked in (saturated fats) and eaten with: toast (often refined) with butter and fried potatoes and bacon and sausages…. it's not the eggs

  2. Jasmina January 14, 2010 at 3:31 pm #

    I would tend to agree, not the eggs, but how cooked. I cook mine lightly over lowest heat possible, with coconut oil, olive oil. I never let the heat go too high.

    Cooked this way, just another protein. I still eat mostly plants, but living in north/cold protein demands higher.

  3. fhaye101 November 18, 2010 at 8:35 am #

    Eggs are good cholesterol and I don't see the point of saying that eating eggs would be a cause of heart attack. I think some individual blame the egg not on the other complication cause what was inculcate to us is what we apply like eggs could cause heart attacks. (Turning Winds)