by Paul Fassa
Health Impact News
A new study, published by the BMJ (British Medical Journal) in May 2018, found that people consuming eggs regularly were less at risk for heart disease than those who consumed no eggs.
The title of the Chinese study is Associations of egg consumption with cardiovascular disease in a cohort study of 0.5 million Chinese adults.
Over a half-million Chinese, between the ages of 30 and 79, were recruited across various regions of China and surveyed for egg consumption. Those with histories of cancer, heart disease, stroke, or diabetes were excluded from the study.
Those remaining, slightly under a half-million, were followed for several years to determine incidents of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and both ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes. The average egg consumption varied from none to over one a day.
Our findings suggested that daily egg consumption (<1 egg) [actually .8 daily on average] was associated with lower risk of CVD [cardiovascular disease], IHD [ischemic heart disease], MCE [major coronary events], hemorrhagic stroke and ischaemic stroke among Chinese middle-aged adults. Our findings contribute scientific evidence to the dietary guidelines with regard to egg consumption for the healthy Chinese adult. (Emphasis added)
The study noted that morbidity from strokes is higher in China than Western nations where deaths from ischemic heart disease (ISD) are higher. An average egg consumption of .8 could translate to five to six eggs per week.
The Chinese study also referenced an earlier smaller Japanese study, the Life Span Study in Japan, and found that “daily egg consumption was associated with a 30% lower risk of total stroke mortality” compared to no or occasional consumption of eggs.
The complete Chinese study text in English can be accessed here.
Corporate “Mainstream” Media Spins Study and Still Claims Eggs are Not Healthy
Reuters is among the four top international newswire agencies in the world that supplies over 80 percent of the world’s news to non-communist countries. A recent Reuters article covered the Chinese epidemiological study that demonstrated the heart health protection of moderate egg consumption.
Even though the Reuters article was titled “Egg a day tied to lower risk of heart disease,” the article eventually yielded to the normal cholesterol theory of heart disease bias after quoting “experts” on the egg issue.
Not only did the article ultimately ring the alarm bell on eggs as a probable heart disease cause, by offering the official AHA (American Heart Association) advice of which diets to include, it contained some errors that could mislead readers’ dietary choices.
Let’s summarize the Chinese egg study and compare it with the Reuters article that covered it with their Western nutritional “experts.”
Consulting credentialed orthodox health experts doesn’t make a mainstream article trustworthy. Most mainstream medical and nutritional “experts” support government USDA nutritional dogma published to protect certain industries, such as the pharmaceutical industry, which needs a public believing that cholesterol causes heart disease in order to sell their very profitable cholesterol-lowering drugs.
From the Reuters article:
“Eggs are not safe for anyone at risk of heart attacks or strokes, but particularly not for diabetics,” said Dr. J. David Spence of the Western University Stroke Prevention & Atherosclerosis Research Center in London, Ontario.
“Eggs increase the risk of vascular disease,” Spence, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.
However, it has been discovered by more advanced medical experts and cardiologists in the minority that arterial inflammation is the source of cardiovascular disease. Inflammation damages the inner cellular walls of arteries and cholesterol attempts to patch it. (Source.)
From the Chinese study, which reported that Chinese nutritional advice includes promoting egg yolks, the following was stated:
Eggs are a prominent source of dietary cholesterol, but they also contain high-quality protein, many vitamins and bioactive components such as phospholipids and carotenoids.
Note: Phosphatidylcholine is the most common type of phospholipid.
From the Science section of ThoughtCo:
Phospholipids are very important molecules as they are a vital component of cell membranes. They help cell membranes and membranes surrounding organelles to be flexible and not stiff. This … enables substances to enter or exit a cell through endocytosis and exocytosis. Phospholipids also act as binding sites for proteins that bind to the cell membrane.
Phosphatidylcholine (PC) is the most abundant phospholipid in cell membranes. … Choline in the body is primarily derived from PC phospholipids. Choline is a precursor to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which transmits nerve impulses in the nervous system. … It is also necessary for proper functioning of the liver and absorption of lipids. PC phospholipids are components of bile, aid in the digestion of fats, and assist in the delivery of cholesterol and other lipids to body organs.
The Reuters article cautions against eating too many eggs, despite the fact that both the China and Japan studies point out lower cardiac and stroke risks from consuming eggs. It ends with a reference to the AHA (American Heart Association) dietary recommendations:
For optimal heart health, the AHA recommends the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet or a Mediterranean-style diet. Both diets emphasize unsaturated vegetable oils, nuts, fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy products, whole grains, fish and poultry, and both limit red meat, as well as foods and drinks high in added sugars and salt.
Yes, but the DASH diet includes eggs while promoting low-fat dairy and processed vegetable oils with trans-fatty acids and totally hydrogenated margarine, also with trans-fatty acids. Both are harmful to our bodies’ cells which thrive with phosphatidylcholine from eggs and other cholesterol-containing food sources.
Of course “unsaturated vegetable oils” in the U.S. food chain are highly processed oils derived from mostly corn and soy, highly subsidized U.S. crops, most of which are genetically modified and heavily sprayed with herbicides and pesticides.
The Mediterranean Diet actually forbids those unsaturated trans-fatty vegetable oils and margarines. It demands consuming only fresh whole foods, preferably organic sources, while excluding processed foods and refined carbs.
The oil of choice is cold pressed olive oil used liberally in traditional Mediterranean cuisine. And there’s no such thing as low-fat dairy in this diet.
It’s important to remember that the AHA and other health foundations and institutions, along with the medical industrial complex, including health insurance, are still mostly in lock-step with the cholesterol and saturated fat theory of heart disease and arterial clogging, despite the fact that numerous scientific studies have exposed this theory as wrong.
For example the Reuters article alludes to “recent research” that suggests eggs might block the liver from making low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the “bad” kind of cholesterol that can build up in blood vessels and lead to clots and heart attacks, and boost production of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the “good” kind needed for healthy blood flow.
Outside of the dogma box, nutritional insiders know cholesterol is cholesterol and there’s no good or bad. Only the protein containers that transport cholesterol around the body differ in size and weight.
But actually, all cholesterol is vital for many structural and functional aspects of human physiology. (See: There Is Only One Type of Cholesterol: All of it Beneficial.)
Conclusion: Do NOT Trust the Corporate “Mainstream” Media for Nutritional Advice
After almost a century of this harmful myth, those with vested careers and financial interests are circling the wagons to keep this unhealthy dietary dogma alive. They are not to be relied on for vital health and nutritional information.
Don’t be confused by mainstream media’s misinformation, spoon fed from the food-medical industrial complex’s disinformation. Health Impact News and some other alternative health news sites are much more reliable for up-to-date health information.
When it comes to eggs, ensure your eggs come from free range pastured chickens, and if you are trying to avoid soy, look for chickens fed a non-soy feed, as studies have shown that the soy proteins from chicken feed pass into the egg yolks.
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