Eggs not risky for heart

14 Jul, 2004

Eating eggs everyday might not be harmful for your hearts although this is said to raise your "bad" LDL cholesterol levels, says a new study conducted by the University of Connecticut, reports Web Md.
According to the lead researcher Maria Luz Fernandez, "We found that the dietary cholesterol in eggs does raise the LDL-1 and LDL-2 types, but it does not impact the small, dense LDL-3 through LDL-7 particles that are the greatest threat for cardiovascular disease risk."
She added the findings might help explain why previous studies had not shown a consistent relationship between increases in the LDL cholesterol levels, such as those associated with eating eggs, and an increasing risk of the heart disease.
Researchers said that having predominantly smaller, dense LDL particles was usually considered more dangerous to heart disease-related health than having mostly larger, more buoyant particles.
The study showed that eating the additional cholesterol, contained in the eggs, increased the proportion of large, LDL particles, but did not significantly increase the proportion of the more dangerous, smaller particles.
Fernandez said: "We also found that egg cholesterol did not impact the small, dense LDL particles among a sub-set of participants who were generally predisposed to being most sensitive to dietary cholesterol."
But the study also showed that men had a higher concentration of the more harmful, small LDL particles than women regardless of the diet they followed.

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