Eggs implicated in heart disease … AGAIN

[grulla]

TRUMAN LEWIS
MARCH 15, 2019

Like a suspect in a continuing investigation, the humble egg appeared to be innocent, at least for awhile. But now, new evidence paints a more dastardly picture of the egg and its accomplice cholesterol, finding that egg eaters in a large study had a significantly higher rate of death from heart disease.

“The take-home message is really about cholesterol, which happens to be high in eggs and specifically yolks,” said co-corresponding study author Norrina Allen, associate professor of preventive medicine atNorthwestern University. “As part of a healthy diet, people need to consume lower amounts of cholesterol. People who consume less cholesterol have a lower risk of heart disease.”

Continue reading: https://rx411.com/2019/03/eggs-impli...disease-again/

[Islander]

Few things are more amusing than a journalist with zero medical background setting out to disprove an established fact... especially one who doesn't know the difference between a cohort study and a case-control study. In fact, although the word "study" was mentioned 11 times, nowhere do we know its title nor where or when it was published. What's equally amusing is that the author picks on eggs, when an egg is nothing but a boneless chicken. Oh, he doesn't like "red meat" either — although there is more cholesterol in a luscious fatty pork chop than a slice of lean rib roast. This well-informed journalist has probably never heard of the ketogenic diet, nor is he aware that the Inuit lived (and thrived) primarily on marine mammals loaded with blubber for 10,000 years. Go back to school, Mr. Lewis. Cholesterol is good for us!

[Mr. Wizard]

Agree, this so-called "study" is anything but. Cholesterol is not the problem; we would die without it. In fact, the body (the liver) makes cholesterol, which is critical to the structure of cells, hormone production, digestion as part of bile acid, etc. The culprit is "oxidized" cholesterol, which results primarily from cooking foods at high temperatures and frying foods with vegetable oils. Think: deep fried french fries, fried chicken, etc. Most vegetable oils left at room temperature for a day or more become rancid. Cooking with rancid veggie oils also causes cholesterol to oxidize. So, it's not cholesterol that is the problem, but it's oxidized cholesterol.

[Islander]

Wel, in trying to locate this infamous study, (the link in the article didn't take me there), I found that despite Brexit, New Zealand, the college admission scam and other headline material, the egg story appeared to occupy a prominent position on every one of the most widely read media. And the language was consistently unclear. It specified "three additional eggs," without clarifying, in addition to how many. Nowhere was a safe number of eggs mentioned. And why pick on eggs, I ask, when we are surrounded by so many other potential sources of cholesterol?

In my continuing search for this mythical article, I found this from CNN: "Victoria Taylor, a senior dietitian with the British Heart Foundation, told Science Media Centre that "this type of study can only show an association, rather than cause and effect, and more research is needed for us to understand the reasons behind this link."

JAMA Network tells me, "Editor’s Note: The article contains conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc." but does not link me to the study. Finally found the source in Science Daly: Victor W. Zhong et al. Associations of Dietary Cholesterol or Egg Consumption With Incident Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality. JAMA, 2019 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2019.1572

Here are two important pieces of information: Study participants did not keep journals or answer a regular questionnaires about their dietary habits; they were asked once — once! "Each participant was asked a long list of what they'd eaten for the previous year or month. The data were collected during a single visit" and "A major limitation of the study is participants' long-term eating patterns weren't assessed... We have one snapshot of what their eating pattern looked like," Allen said.

The final brick in the wall: look where the grant funding came from: "The study was supported in part by the American Heart Association and by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute grants R21 HL085375, HHSN268201300046C, HHSN268201300047C, HHSN268201300049C, HHSN268201300050C, HHSN268201300048C of the National Institutes of Health."

Good grief.

[Julieanne]

Thanks Islander for putting so much effort in tracking this down. Unfortunately, most people would not take so much trouble to verify the information.

[grulla]

The article begs the question what food or pharma stock might be in author Truman Lewis' investment portfolio. Fake news.

Today's Mercola article, "Why the Media Went Crazy for Keto Crotch" is another good example of fake (health) news.
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...to-crotch.aspx

[Islander]

I guess it got personal with me, Julie. I was born on a poultry farm. I like my eggs. Sometimes I have two a day for a week at a time. Some days they are my only source of protein. I'm damned if I'm going to let anyone tell me a beautiful organic egg is unhealthy!

Grulla, I'm banned from Mercola again.

[grulla]

"Grulla, I'm banned from Mercola again." I'm aware of that, but you can still read his articles, no???

[Islander]

True, but they rarely interest me, or even pertain to me, like fluoride or dentistry or even diabetes.

[Maurya]

Oh darn, I guess I missed all the Mercola drama again. Poor me!

[Islander]

My friend, you didn't miss a thing. I was banned this time just for objecting to the additional advertising. Not only does it blast you at the top and bottom of the page, it's being inserted halfway through the lead article as well. Now that Gui occupies roughly 75% of the real estate there, plus the fact that we can't see our like/dislike numbers any more, attendance has plummeted and so, I assume, have sales. It's become just a big billboard.

[Mr. Wizard]

According to a Swedish National Study on Aging and cardiologist, Dr. Ross Walker, people over age 60 with high cholesterol tend to live longer.

Read more: https://medium.com/@drrosswalker/cho...0-f9bd9d31de1a
And: http://roguehealthandfitness.com/old...l-live-longer/