by Richard Tardif
A study published in the Journal of Atherosclerosis Research in 2012 found that regular egg consumption could put your health at grave risk, the same risk as puffing in five cigarettes a day. If you are thinking, “He’s finally lost it, this Fitter Blog trainer,” and if you want to skip my column this week, I won’t blame you. I’ll give you a minute to decide. Still here?
This study is real and has resurfaced on the debate zone known as social media. One one side, the keto, carnivore supporters, and the vegan, vegetarian on the other. The study was also a small snippet in the 2017 vegan-vegetarian documentary “What the Health”. This doc is from the creators of the 2014 award-winning documentary “Cowspiracy”,Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn.
Both documentaries make claims that vastly overstates and misrepresents past scientific understanding, and the creators have been accused for cherry picking data to support their views, while ignoring data that’s contrary, while confusing causation with correlation in clinical trials.
The egg-cig study
In 2012, Canadian researchers examined 1,231 patients with an average age of 62. They used ultrasound measurements of arteries to establish the presence and quantity of plaque. Smoking was measured in “pack-years” and egg yolk consumption in “egg yolk-years.” The lead in many journalist reports went something like this, “Egg yolks are loaded with cholesterol, a known risk factor for various heart diseases, and they are as dangerous as cigarettes,” according to scientists, or researchers.
Cigarettes contain Hydrogen cyanide, Formaldehyde, Lead, Arsenic, Ammonia, Uranium, Benzene, CO, Nitrosamines, PAHs, up to 600 known chemicals, and since I haven’t lost my mind, eggs do not contain such a chemical soup. A single egg contains 180 to 210 mg of cholesterol, depending on size, and on average, we consume almost five eggs per week.
On the other side
There are numerous studies showing that additional nutrients found within eggs could actually help lower the risk of heart disease. The Harvard Medical School puts out information regarding the benefits of vegan/vegetarian diets, they also point to the fact that, when it comes to eggs, “Research on moderate egg consumption in two large prospective cohort studies (nearly 40,000 men and over 80,000 women) found that up to one egg per day is not associated with increased heart disease risk in healthy individuals.
Relative risk
Before you go crazy with all these studies, remember many health studies are considered relative risk. What are the chances this will happen to you? And while it does compare the risks, the “egg-cig” study isn’t exactly rigorous science. We’ve also said it before that, “One size does not fit all.”
Let’s go boil some eggs? Just. Eat. Right.
Richard Tardif is an award-winning investigative journalist, fitness trainer, speaker, author based in Montreal. Richard’s first book Stop the Denial: A Case for Embracing the Truth About Fitness, challenges, surprises, and inspires you to embrace a fitness lifestyle that will work in achieving your individual goals. 
Richard’s second book, Still in Denial: The Reasons for Embracing the Truth About Fitness, will be released in May 2019.
