Concerns about eggs raising cholesterol levels and impacting heart health have long been debated. However, findings from the PROSPERITY trial to be presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session reveal that consuming 12 or more fortified eggs a week does not significantly affect cholesterol levels over a four-month period compared to a non-egg diet.
The study, led by Nina Nouhravesh from Duke Clinical Research, included 140 patients with or at high risk for cardiovascular disease. Participants were assigned to either consume fortified eggs or have a non-egg diet.
Results showed a -0.64 mg/dL and a -3.14 mg/dL reduction in HDL-cholesterol (good cholesterol) and LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol), respectively, in the fortified egg group. While these differences weren’t statistically significant, the researchers said the differences suggest that eating 12 fortified eggs each week had no adverse effect on blood cholesterol. In terms of secondary endpoints, researchers observed a numerical reduction in total cholesterol, LDL particle number, another lipid biomarker called apoB, high-sensitivity troponin (a marker of heart damage), and insulin resistance scores in the fortified egg group, while vitamin B increased.
“While this is a neutral study, we did not observe adverse effects on biomarkers of cardiovascular health and there were signals of potential benefits of eating fortified eggs that warrant further investigation in larger studies as they are more hypothesis generating here,” Nouhravesh said, explaining that subgroup analyses revealed numerical increases in HDL cholesterol and reductions in LDL cholesterol in patients 65 years or older and those with diabetes in the fortified egg group compared with those eating fewer than two eggs.
So why have eggs gotten a bad rap? Some of the confusion stems from the fact that egg yolks contain cholesterol. Experts said a more important consideration, especially in the context of these findings, might be what people are eating alongside their eggs, such as buttered toast, bacon and other processed meats, which are not heart healthy choices.