Should we be more careful about going to work on an egg?

GOING to work on an egg? It may seem harmless enough.

But a decade ago, that 1950s slogan – made famous by the TV adverts starring comedian Tony Hancock and actress Patricia Hayes – was banned for failing to promote a balanced diet.

And now there’s all the more reason to think twice – for eating too many eggs significantly raises the risk of an early death, say scientists. Those who eat two eggs a day increase their chances of dying early by 34 per cent, their study found.

Even eating just one egg every other day was found to raise the risk. The findings by US researchers will reignite debate over whether the health benefits of eggs outweigh the potential risks.

Scientists at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago studied the diets of almost 30,000 adults over 30 years. They found those who ate two eggs a day were a third more likely to die early than those who ate three to four a week. Those who ate two a day were also 27 per cent more likely to have a heart attack or stroke.

Egg yolks are one of the richest sources of dietary cholesterol among common foods, with one yolk typically containing 186 milligrams. Red and processed meat and high-fat dairy products such as butter also have high cholesterol content, which is widely linked to heart disease.

Norrina Allen, from Northwestern, said the ‘take-home message is really about cholesterol’, adding: ‘As part of a healthy diet, people need to consume lower amounts of cholesterol.’ But Victoria Taylor, of the British Heart Foundation, said the study showed an association rather than cause and effect. She added: ‘Eating healthily is all about balance.’

And the British Egg Industry Council said the study, published in journal JAMA, was ‘inconsistent with other research’.

A daily glass of fruit juice could cut the risk of life-threatening strokes by almost a quarter, a study by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health found.