Recently, a study in Canada suggested that in terms of the severity of thrombosis, the harm from consuming egg yolks is almost equivalent to two-thirds of that from smoking. So, can eating eggs really cause high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol, and indirectly lead to thrombosis? Can the harm from eating eggs be compared to that of tobacco?
The findings from the Canadian study were based on a retrospective survey of 1,262 patients. The research method used by the scientific staff belongs to cross-sectional survey analysis in epidemiology, which only indicates that there is some correlation between the increased risk of thrombosis and eating egg yolks, but it does not prove a causal relationship between the two. As for whether eating egg yolks directly leads to high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol, there is no relevant international data for reference. Some experts conducted a study on two groups of healthy people: one group ate one egg per day, and the other group ate ten eggs per day, for a duration of one month. The experimental results showed that although the latter group ate ten times as many eggs as the former, the difference in their cholesterol levels was not significant. This demonstrates that the human body has a certain self-regulatory function.
The standard for a healthy diet is to consume 300 milligrams of cholesterol per day, and a single egg yolk contains 200 milligrams of cholesterol. This amount is acceptable for the human body. Moreover, eggs provide high-quality protein, with an amino acid composition that is closest to human needs, making it the best source of protein for the body. Egg yolks contain 12 vitamins and multiple health-promoting factors, including lutein and lecithin, which are beneficial for preventing heart disease and retinal diseases.
Tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 chemical substances, hundreds of which are harmful. These harmful substances can damage the vascular endothelium, narrowing the arterial lumen and leading to atherosclerosis in various arteries such as the coronary, carotid, and lower limb arteries. It is well-established by multiple studies that smoking causes atherosclerosis, and the mechanism differs from that of thrombosis caused by dietary factors. Therefore, eating egg yolks cannot be equated with smoking in terms of its impact on thrombosis formation. The formation of thrombosis is mainly related to damage to the vessel wall, slow blood flow, and high blood viscosity, and is influenced by various factors such as diet, obesity, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, high blood pressure, high blood lipids, diabetes, and low physical activity. It is the result of a combination of genetic and environmental factors.