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Is One Egg a Day Too Much?

The Harvard Physicians Health Study suggests that those eating an egg a day live shorter lives.

September 23, 2010 |
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Is One Egg a Day Too Much?, 5.0 out of 5 based on 2 ratings

Sources Cited

L. Djoussé & J.M. Gaziano. Egg consumption in relation to cardiovascular disease and mortality: the Physicians’ Health Study. Am J Clin Nutr, 87(4):964-969, 2008.

D.R. Jacobs Jr., L.F. Andersen, & R. Blomhoff. Whole-grain consumption is associated with a reduced risk of noncardiovascular, noncancer death attributed to inflammatory diseases in the Iowa Women’s Health Study. Am J Clin Nutr, 85(6):1606-1614, 2007.

Acknowledgements

Transcript

Food poisoning aside, what about that egg? High in cholesterol, but I’m not talkin’ an omelette here. Just a single egg a day. How many say harmful—to you, not the chicken??? Harmless??? Helpful??? The answer is that an egg a day is indeed helpful, if you want to die an early death. 20,000 Harvard physicians studied for 20 years and those that ate just one egg a day had a significantly higher all-cause mortality, meaning the more eggs you eat the shorter you live. Whereas eating oatmeal every morning, based on a new study of 40,000 women, may extend your life,

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Dianne Moore.

To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org

Dr. Michael Greger

Doctor's Note

For more context, check out my associated blog posts:  Stool Size and Breast Cancer Risk and Bad Egg. 

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/leomar/ Leomar

    The study also explicitely states that “…we demonstrated that infrequent egg consumption up to 6 eggs per week was not associated with MI, stroke, or total mortality in healthy US male physicians.”
    So if you skip it just once a week you should be fine.. if you’re a physician.

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

      Sorry it took me so long to get back to you Leomar. Please see my blog post Bad Egg to put this older study in context as well as the most recent review on the subject posted in two parts here and here, concluding that no one (who isn’t dying from a terminal illness or something) should be regularly eating eggs. It’s true the Physicians’ Health Study did not have the statistical power to pick up a significant elevation in risk for eating less than one egg a day, but from what we know about the effects of dietary cholesterol, the ideal upper daily limit of intake is zero (same with trans fats).

      • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/lukeap/ lukeap

        Dr. Greger,

        I’ve watched the videos about egg cholesterol being bad. Is there any researching dealing with only eating the egg whites of eggs? Is this harmful, given the cholesterol is taken out of the equation. I often eat 4-5 egg whites for breakfast.

        Thanks for your help and website.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/drdons/ DrDons

    My question is why would you want to eat egg whites? I would guess that you believe it is good for getting the protein you need and a source of “quality” protein or essential amino acids. I recommend that you read two articles by Dr. John McDougall. They are in his monthly newsletters…”A Brief History of Protein”(December 2003) and “Where Do I Get My Protein”(April 2007. The take home message… no way you can not get the essential amino acids you need if you consume adequate calories on whole food plant based diet. Also the essential amino acid profile is virtually the same for eggs, broccoli and asparagus. Since we don’t store protein we must metabolize it. There is good data to show that consuming animal protein is bad for our kidneys based on the Harvard Nurses Study. It appears that plant proteins which have less sulfur based amino acids are preferable for a host of other reasons see(http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/plant-protein-preferable/). Before continuing to eat egg whites you should also review Dr. Greger’s video on the difficulties in preventing salmonella with egg preparation. (http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/total-recall/). I would recommend not using egg whites with the added benefit that you won’t have to waste or figure out what to do with the egg yolks.

    • Coacervate

      I think its ok to eat cooked egg whites.  Just don’t overdo the protein load.  I think even Dr Greger’s site says that it is not the protein source, rather the other baddies that come aloong with fish/meat/dairy that are bad. 

      I am suspicious of the Esselstyn/Cambell et al camp because they seem to have an animal welfare agenda too. 

      They don’t want you eating egg whites because it means you have to raise chickens to get them and the really don’t want anyone raising chickens or any of their other pals with faces and mommies and daddios.  Good for them but bad for science.

      • Lew Payne

        Another novel concept is that of avoiding bad things altogether, rather than trying to eat a specific section of them (e.g., egg whites in lieu of eggs). To me, it seems more economically feasible to discard an unhealthy food altogether, as opposed to paying for the entire food (e.g., egg) and discarding a portion of it (e.g., yolk).

      • Toxins

        The protein source is indeed an issue as seen with increased IGF-1 levels

  • Michael Greger M.D.

    Also be sure to check out my associated blog post Bad Egg!

  • Spike

    Hmm, seems at odds with many other studies: who do you believe?

    • Toxins

       This is simply a statistic that represents one egg every single day. What other studies do you have that actually show health benefits attributed with eggs despite the major harms?

      • Notspikemilligan

         The point isn’t about me “singing the praises” of eggs – merely taking issue with the seemingly biased article slating them. I’m 61, and as a child – and up to now – followed the “Go to work on an egg” maxim stated by our health service. I appear not to be suffering from the woes indicated in the article, so again I say “Who do you believe” – ie do you take this article as the gospel truth: I don’t.

        • Toxins

          No one food at one point in time can cause degenerative disease but consuming one food all the time as part of ones diet can. There is more then one study that goes against eggs. Here is the evidence against eggs.

          Current levels of omega 3 in eggs are highly inadequate and one must
          consume around 30 eggs to reach an acceptable level of omega 3 for the
          day. A male needs around 1.6 grams of omega 3 per day, a female needs
          around 1.1 grams a day. Omega 3 processes to EPA which is also
          processed to DHA, which is highly anti inflammatory. Omega 6 processes
          down to arachadonic acid which is highly inflammatory. The fact that
          eggs are the top source of arachadonic acid nulls and voids benefits
          received from the omega 3 in the egg itself. High intake of arachadonic
          acid is linked to autoimmune diseases such as  rheumatoid arthritis,
          ulcerative colitis, as well as a clear link with  cancer development.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=20950616uid
          http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18774339
          http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21139128

          The
          Harvard physicians study followed 20,000 doctors for 20 years and
          those that ate just one egg a day had significant increase in all cause
          mortality.
          http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18400720

          In
          fact, David Spence, director of stroke prevention/atherosclerosis
          research center and one of the worlds leading stroke experts, said that
          based on the latest research, you can eat all the eggs you want IF your
          dying of a terminal illness. Eggs are not considered health promoting
          nutritionally speaking.
          http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18400699

          Eggs have been linked with heart failure
          http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18954578

          As well as type 2 diabetes.
          http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2628696/?tool=pubmed

          Furthermore,
          in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, David Spence, David Jenkins
          (the inventor of the glycemic index) and Jean Davignon (director of
          atherosclerosis research group) posted a review on eggs claiming that
          the egg industry has been downplaying the health risks of eggs through
          misleading advertisements. As soon as you eat one egg, you expose
          your body to several hours worth of oxidative stress, inflammation of
          ones arteries, endothelieum impairment (what keeps you blood running
          smoothly) and increases the susceptibility of LDL cholesterol to
          oxidize (beginning stages of heart disease).
          http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21076725
          http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9001684

          The
          egg industry has claimed that cholesterol from eggs is not important
          and does not raise cholesterol levels. The fundamental flaw in the study
          the egg industry has used to make this claim is that they measured
          FASTING lipid levels at night and not levels through out the day after
          egg consumption. “Diet is not all about fasting lipids; it is mainly
          about the three-quarters of the day that we are in the nonfasting state.
          Fasting lipids can be thought of as a baseline; they show what the
          endothelium was exposed to for the last few hours of the night.”
          http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2989358/?tool=pubmed

          A
          single egg yolk contains approximately 215 to 275 mg of cholesterol. A
          safe upper limit can be capped at 200 mg if one is looking to prevent
          heart disease. One egg far exceeds this daily upper limit.

          In
          regards to egg whites, although true they are a good source of protein,
          this is possibly the only positive statement that can be made of it.
          Here is some evidence of a major component of egg whites, Methionine,
          possibly causing human harm.

          1. Egg whites are high in
          the amino Acid Methionine. Rice has 14 times less of this amino acid and
          beans 7 time less. When one consumes Methionine in a large quantity
          (like that found in egg whites), it is broken down into sulfuric
          compounds. these sulfuric compounds are buffered by the calcium of the
          bones. the result, over time, is osteoporosis and kidney stones.
          http://www.vivalis.si/literatura/6a00.pdf  

           2.
          Cancer cell metabolism is dependent upon methionine being present in
          the diet; whereas normal cells can grow on a methionine-free
          diet feeding off other sulfur-containing amino acids.
          http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14585259
          http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12416254

          3. Insulin like growth factor is raised significantly by Methionine. raised levels of IGF-1 = accelerated aging/tumor promotion.
          http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12176673
          http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/92/18/1472.abstract

          4.
          Sulfur from Methionine is known to be toxic to the tissues of the
          intestine, and to have harmful effects on the human colon, even at low
          levels, possibly causing ulcerative colitis.
          http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9448181
          http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/82/11/950.abstract

  • http://www.philippeorlando.com Philippe Orlando

    So, what’s the latest on egg whites? I exercise a lot, run, lift weights, and egg whites are the only animal products I eat. I don’t eat any dairy, fish or meat. Can somebody point me in the direction of good science saying that I should drop egg whites too? I will, but I do want to see the evidence. Thank you all. Philippe

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