U.S. researchers revealed Wednesday that more than 6 eggs in a week increases a person's risk of death. And that was especially true of diabetics who seem to face an increased risk of death, according to a study that was limited to men.
Study lead author Dr. Luc Djousse, an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston and his team noted that while eggs are good source of other nutrients, overconsumption leads to an early death.
"Whereas egg consumption of up to six eggs a week was not associated with the risk of all-cause mortality, consumption of (seven or more) eggs a week was associated with a 23 percent greater risk of death," they wrote in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The team studied 21,327 men participated in the Physicians' Health Study. Over 20 years, 1,550 of the men had heart attacks, 1,342 had strokes, and more than 5,000 died.
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 infarction or heart attack) and stroke.
Eggs are known to be high in artery-clogging cholesterol, which increases risk of heart attack and stroke, however, researchers added that egg consumption was not directly linked with heart attack or stroke.
