It is a vivid controversy: to eat or not to eat eggs. While a recent research has showed that consuming eggs reduces the risk of breast cancer in women by 24%, thanks to choline, a new one published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reveals that middle-aged men who eat seven or more eggs hurry up to their grave. Moreover, consumption of any egg, in case of men with diabetes, is enough to boost their death risk. Still, the researchers could not say what exactly increases the risk of death in the case of egg consumption.

"Whereas egg consumption of up to six eggs a week was not associated with the risk of all-cause mortality, consumption of (seven or more) eggs a week was associated with a 23% greater risk of death. However, among male physicians with diabetes, any egg consumption is associated with a greater risk of all-cause mortality, and there was suggestive evidence for a greater risk of MI (heart attack) and stroke," wrote the authors, Dr Luc Djousse and Dr J. Michael Gaziano of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School found.

The main suspect in the egg consumption is the high amount of cholesterol, which can cause arteries clogging and boosts the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Still, "eggs are like all other foods - they are neither 'good' nor 'bad' and they can be part of an overall heart-healthy diet," said Dr Robert Eckel of the University of Colorado and a former president of the American Heart Association.

The research team followed up 21 327 men involved in the much larger Physicians' Health Study, monitoring doctors who reported regularly on their health and lifestyle habits since 1981. 20 years later, 1,550 of them experienced heart attacks, 1,342 had strokes, and over 5 000 died.
"Egg consumption was not associated with (heart attack) or stroke," the researchers wrote.

But those who consumed at least seven eggs weekly were 23% more likely to have died. Diabetic men who consumed any eggs had a double probability of dying in those 20 years.

The profile of the egg consuming man was older, fatter, eating more vegetables but less breakfast cereal, and more likely to drink alcohol, smoke and less likely to exercise, all these factors being associated with increased risk of heart attack and death.