Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States alone, but new researchpublished in the American College of Nutrition has revealed that eating just one egg a day can reduce the risk of a stroke by 12 per cent.
Cracking results
By conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies between 1982 and 2015, the study analysed the relationships between consumption of eggs and coronary heart disease (276,000 subjects) and stroke (308,000 subjects). This revealed there was no association between eggs and heart disease, but there was a significant reduction in the risk of stroke.
DrDominik Alexander, the principal investigator of the study, recognises that more mechanistic work is needed to understand the connection between eggs and stroke risk. However, he does suggest that, "eggs do have many positive nutritional attributes, including antioxidants, which have been shown to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation. They are also an excellent source of protein, which has been related to lower blood pressure."
Ouef-ully good news
The studies findings lend support to the release of the 2015 Guidelines for Americans, which eliminated dietary cholesterol limits, and recommended regular consumption of eggs among lean protein choices. It also builds on a 2015 meta-analysis that demonstrated dietary cholesterol had no association with cardiovascular diseases.
"This systematic review and meta-analysis underscores prior research, showing the lack of a relationship between eggs and heart disease,” says Tia Rains, the Interim Executive Director of the Egg Nutrition Centre, “and now suggests a possible beneficial effect of eating eggs on risk of stroke."
Given one big egg can contain six grams of high-quality protein, antioxidants (lutein and zeaxanthin) and vitamins E, D, and A, we eggspect you’ll be wanting to get some after this!
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