The study was performed on 4,778 Chinese adults aged between 30 – 79, Daily Mail UK reported.
According to the Daily Mail UK report, participants were asked to fill in a detailed questionnaire about their food consumption in the past 12 months.
The questionnaire also included questions about how often they consumed foods like eggs, rice, wheat, meat, poultry, fish, fresh vegetables, fruits, and dairy products.
They were asked if they ate eggs never/rarely, one-to-three days a week, four-to-six days a week, or daily.
The average score was eating eggs on 2.6 days of the week.
The participants were then subjected to a blood test. The researchers found that people who ate between four and seven eggs per week had high levels of APOA1.
APOA1 is a building block of high-density lipoprotein, the ‘good cholesterol’ that carries the fatty substance to the liver to be broken down.
The scientists also said they identified 14 proteins linked to heart disease, some of which helped protect the disease and some of which contributed to it.
They reported that the participants who ate fewer eggs were found to have lower levels of the beneficial proteins and high levels of the harmful ones, compared to people who ate eggs more frequently.
Professor Canqing Yu, an expert in epidemiology and public health at the Chinese university, who led the study said the findings provide a potential explanation for why moderate egg consumption was good for cardiovascular health.
“Egg consumption is associated with several metabolic markers, which may partially explain the protective effect of moderate egg consumption on cardiovascular disease,” she told Daily Mail.
The researchers however stated that more study is needed to confirm their findings.
According to Mayo Clinic – a medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research, a person’s cholesterol levels are an important measure of their heart health. For HDL cholesterol or “good” cholesterol, higher levels are better.
Explaining what good cholesterol is, the non-profit medical centre said, “High-density lipoprotein cholesterol is often referred to as “good” cholesterol.
“HDL picks up excess cholesterol in your blood and takes it back to your liver where it’s broken down and removed from your body.”
Source: healthwise
