The moderate consumption of eggs, up to four per week, would not increase the risk of cardiovascular episodes or diseases in people at high risk but without previous conditions, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Navarra Health Service (Primary Care and Endocrinology of the Reina Sofia Hospital in Tudela) and department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health of the University of Navarra, within the research center Biomedical in network-Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBER-obn).

According to Javier Díez Espino, a physician at the Tafalla Health Center and first author of work, despite the fact that egg consumption was often contraindicated or limited, there is no evidence that egg consumption is associated with a higher incidence of cardiovascular disease, either in people with no previous health problems or in those at high risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease subject. Javier Basterra, endocrinologist at the Reina Sofía Hospital, Pilar Buil, from the Azpilagaña Health Center, and Estefanía Toledo, professor of Preventive Medicine at the University of Navarra, also participated in the study.

The study

Egg consumption is an important source of cholesterol source , but it is also an economic resource of high quality proteins, unsaturated fats, vitamins group B and minerals, hence the importance of analyzing the impact of its intake on the health of the population.

Specifically, the researchers monitored the annual consumption of eggs and other foods in about a thousand volunteers, aged between 50 and 80 years, for approximately 6 years, measuring the incidence of relevant cardiovascular problems, such as myocardial infarction, stroke or death due to cardiovascular causes. Of all the cases studied, 342 participants suffered an episode of this subject, but no significant differences were observed between those who had consumed less than 2 eggs per week and those who had consumed more than 4 eggs per week, even if they were participants with diabetes subject 2.

The research, whose leaders belong to the high school de research Sanitaria de Navarra (IdiSNA), is part of the macroproject PREDIMED (Prevention in Mediterranean per diem expenses ), the largest clinical essay promoted in Spain, whose goal consists of analyzing the role of the Mediterranean per diem expenses in the prevention of cardiovascular ailments. So far, a total of 7,447 people have participated in the study throughout Spain, a thousand of them in Navarra. This latest study has recently been published in the journal "Clinical Nutrition", one of the ten best journals in the world in its specialization program.