More good news about eggs: study finds they cut stroke risk

What came first: The cholesterol-fearing chickens or the eggs? (I just had to say that!)

We can joke about it now, but for years all we heard was lots of dietary advice about how deadly cholesterol was.

Unfortunately, that old mantra has been — and probably still is — scaring off millions from eating eggs.

But researchers have now discovered that not only do eggs not contribute to heart disease, but eating them can actually protect you from having a stroke!

And not just having eggs once in a while, either, but every single day.

Egg on their faces

When the mainstream gets it wrong, they really get it wrong.

And that’s been the case with eggs for a long, long time. In fact, the egg-fearing myth has been one of its most sacred cows.

That makes an admission like this one all the more surprising: “I think what we thought we knew isn’t what we know now.”

That’s how epidemiologist Dr. Dominik Alexander, lead author of a new study on eggs, summarized his findings.

What Dr. Alexander and his team found is that eating an egg a day appears to significantly lower your risk of stroke.

Unbelievable! Why, suggesting that we should eat eggs daily would have been considered treason just a short time ago.

In fact, even if you scramble, poach or sunny-side-up fewer than four eggs a week, you’ll still be getting these stroke-reducing benefits.

And get this: The analysis also found no significant link between egg consumption and the risk of coronary heart disease.

Of course, this shouldn’t come as a surprise to eAlert readers. I’ve been telling you about the health benefits of eggs for years now.

For example, eggs, and specifically egg yolks, contain:

• vitamins A, D, and E,
• a whopping amount of omega-3 fatty acids,
• lutein and zeaxanthin, which can protect your eyes, and
• B vitamins such as folate, B6 and thiamin.

And recently, two studies from the University of Alberta had shown that our bodies convert the proteins from egg yolks into peptides, which both lower blood pressure and are a rich source of antioxidants.

But one important thing that these studies don’t address is the difference between conventional eggs and ones from free-range, organically-fed chickens.

Organically-raised hens have been found to lay eggs that contain three times more omega-3, twice as much vitamin E, 40 percent more vitamin A, 50 percent more folate, and 70 percent more vitamin B12.

In addition, according to a UK government survey, the eggs from chickens raised in factory farm cages are five times more likely to test positive for salmonella than eggs laid by organic, free-range hens.

Of course some are still clinging to the old party line on cholesterol. Dr. J. David Spence, a professor at Western University, chimed in on this new study saying that “egg yolks are not okay,” and that we should continue to eat those tasteless egg white omelets.

Seriously Dr. Spence?

Of course, the idea that eggs are actually good for our health – and our heart health in particular – will never be accepted by all authorities in the field.

But that’s only natural, I suppose.

After you’ve spent years handing out bad nutritional advice, it can certainly put a lot of egg on your face!

“Eggs linked to decreased stroke, no increase in CHD risk” Deborah Brauser, December 7, 2016, Medscape, medscape.com