Seven or more eggs a week raises risk of death: Study

Middle-aged men who ate seven or more eggs in a week raise their risk of early death. Additionally, men with diabetes who ate any eggs at all raised their risk of death, a team of US researchers found.

The researchers looked into health records of 21,327 men who participated in the Physicians' Health Study. For over 20 years the health and lifestyle habits of the volunteers was watched.

Over a 20 year period, 1,550 men suffered heart attacks, 1,342 suffered strokes and over 5,000 died.

"Though egg consumption was not associated with (heart attack) or stroke," the study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition quotes.

But the men who ate seven eggs a week or more were 23 percent more likely to have died during the 20-year period. Whereas, diabetic men who ate any eggs at all were twice as likely to die over the 20 year period, researchers noted.

Men without diabetes could eat up to six eggs a week with no added risk of death but for men with diabetes, consumption of egg is associated with increased risk of mortality and there was suggestive evidence for a greater risk of MI (myocardial infarctiondefine or heart attack) and stroke, researchers observed.

More importantly, older and already obese men were the ones who ate the most eggs per week. Also they ate more vegetables and less breakfast cereal and were more likely to drink alcohol, smoke. They also lacked regular exercise - all factors that can affect the risk of heart attack and death.

Eggs are rich in arterydefine-clogging cholesterol can increase the rates of heart attack and stroke. However, researchers urged that like all other foods, eggs are neither 'good' nor 'bad'. Eggs are a good source of nutrients and they can be part of an overall heart-healthy diet, but over consumption can be bad.

The study was lead by Dr. Luc Djousse, an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston.