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Medical Health Aged Care

Regularly eating eggs supports a lower risk of cardiovascular disease-related death

Monash University 3 mins read

Regular consumption of eggs is associated with a 29 per cent lower risk of cardiovascular disease-related death in relatively healthy older adults, new research from a Monash University-led team has found. 

 

Published in the Journal Nutrients, the researchers found that for relatively healthy older adults, consuming eggs 1-6 times per week was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality (death from any cause) and CVD mortality compared to those who rarely or never eat eggs.

 

The study involved 8756 adults aged 70 years or older, who self-reported the frequency of their total egg intake: never/infrequently (rarely/never, or 1-2 times/month), weekly (1-6 times/week), and daily (daily/several times per day), as part of the *ASPREE Longitudinal Study of Older Persons (ALSOP) sub-study.

 

First author Holly Wild, a PhD candidate and lecturer from the Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, said compared to older adults who never or infrequently ate eggs (up to to twice a month), those who ate eggs 1-6 times a week had a 15 per cent lower risk of death from any cause, and a 29 per cent lower risk of cardiovascular disease-related death. 

 

“Eggs are a nutrient-dense food, they are a rich source of protein and a good source of essential nutrients, such as B vitamins, folate, unsaturated fatty acids, fat-soluble vitamins (E, D, A, and K), choline, and numerous minerals and trace elements,” Ms Wild said. 

 

“Eggs are also an accessible source of protein and nutrition in older adults, with research suggesting that they are the preferred source of protein for older adults who might be experiencing age-related physical and sensory decline.”

 

The study also explored the relationship between egg consumption and mortality across different levels of diet quality (low, moderate, high).

 

“The study found that older adults with a moderate to high diet quality reported a 33 per cent and 44 per cent lower risk of CVD-related death, suggesting that the addition of eggs to moderate and high-quality diets may improve longevity,” the researchers wrote.

 

The current Australian Dietary Guidelines and the American Heart Association (AHA) recommend that adults with normal cholesterol can eat up to seven eggs per week, while some European countries suggest limiting it to 3-4 eggs per week. The AHA also supports up to two eggs per day for older adults with normal cholesterol. 

 

“Previous research has observed a higher risk of mortality with egg consumption for those who have high cholesterol. For this reason, we also explored the association between egg consumption and mortality in people with and without dyslipidemia (clinically diagnosed high cholesterol),” Ms Wild said. 

 

“We found a 27 per cent lower risk of CVD-related death for participants with dyslipidemia who consumed eggs weekly, compared to their counterparts that consumed eggs rarely or never, suggesting that in this study cohort, the presence of dyslipidemia does not influence the risk associated with egg consumption.  

 

“Our results suggest that eating up to six eggs a week may reduce the risk of death from all causes and cardiovascular related diseases in older adults. These findings may be beneficial in the development of evidence-based dietary guidelines for older adults.”

 

Read the full paper in Nutrients: Egg Consumption and Mortality: A Prospective Cohort Study of Australian Community-Dwelling Older Adults. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17020323 

 

*About ASPREE

ASPREE (ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly) was a large primary prevention aspirin trial in more than 19,000 participants in Australia and the US, mostly aged 70 years and older, and continues today as a longitudinal study. The ASPREE Longitudinal Study of Older Persons (ALSOP) questionnaire-based sub-study ran alongside the ASPREE trial in Australia, and was supported by a grant from the Wicking Trust. The ASPREE project is funded by the National Institutes of Health (USA) and the NHMRC (Australia) and is led by Monash University in Australia and the Berman Center for Outcomes & Clinical Research in the US. Visit: https://aspree.org/aus/  

- ENDS -

MEDIA ENQUIRIES 

Helena Powell

Media Communications Officer, Monash University 

M: +61 474 444 171

E: helena.powell@monash.edu 

 

GENERAL MEDIA ENQUIRIES

Monash Media

T: +61 (0) 3 9903 4840

E: media@monash.edu

For more Monash media stories, visit our news and events site 

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