Egg Yolks = Bad as Smoking?

I’m not the biggest fan of eggs. It’s something about the texture, I think. I’ve mentioned before here that I’m very much a texture-oriented person when it comes to food. So it must be the rubbery feeling of scrambled or boiled eggs that rubs me the wrong way. I also tend to feel really bloated after I eat them, so I tend to avoid them at all costs.

It turns out my avoidance of eggs may be helping my body. A recent study discovered just how unhealthy eggs are for you. Researchers found that the cholesterol found in an egg’s yellow center is able to clog the carotid artery leading to the brain, increasing the risk for stroke. It’s also able to stiffen your arteries, almost as much as smoking would.

“People at risk of vascular disease should not eat egg yolks,” said the study’s lead author Dr. David Spencer. “Carotid plaque goes up steeply with age, so the only people who can eat egg yolks with impunity are those that know they will die young from some cause other than vascular disease.”

They discovered this frightening information by using an ultrasound to gauge the plaque in people’s hearts, while also asking them how much egg yolks they ate. They also tracked if the patients smoked, and how much they smoked.

It was determined that those who ate three or more yolks a week had much more plaque compared to those who ate two or fewer a week. Dr. Spence said it makes sense, as just “one egg yolk contains more than the recommended daily intake of cholesterol.”