New Study and Response: Are egg yolks as bad as smoking? - PaleoHacks.com [closed]

New Study and Response: Are egg yolks as bad as smoking?

2012-08-14T20:04:12Z

Possible Duplicate:
Egg yolk consumption increases atherosclerosis risk and plaque build up?

Hi, I’m Bill Barrington, a PhD student at NC State studying Genetics and Diet. Recently, I came across an article that might be of interest entitled “Egg Yolks as Bad as Smoking?” on ScienceDaily.com. I’ve broken down the study and written a response as to why this is poor science at my blog:

http://understandnutrition.blogspot.com/

Check out the article at ScienceDaily:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120813155640.htm

Answer by Jeff for New Study and Response: Are egg yolks as bad as smoking?

2012-08-14T20:27:10Z

Your analysis is very good, thanks for saving me some reading before I have to start defending eggs! I also enjoyed reading some of your other posts.

As an FYI, this site generally discourages people from posting questions that involve self-promotion, trying to get traffic to their own blogs, etc. I don't think you meant to do that, but it's something I'm sure might come up.

Answer by juju for New Study and Response: Are egg yolks as bad as smoking?

2012-08-14T20:31:38Z

only if they are unfiltered.

Answer by Andrew for New Study and Response: Are egg yolks as bad as smoking?

2012-08-14T21:08:31Z

I have something that's worse than smoking; BS scientific studies....without them Obesity rates would be much lower

Answer by David for New Study and Response: Are egg yolks as bad as smoking?

2012-08-14T22:18:20Z

You nailed it. Science Daily should be renamed "BS Daily" (BS stands for bad science). ;)

Answer by candice for New Study and Response: Are egg yolks as bad as smoking?

2012-08-14T22:28:44Z

If science says something you don't want to hear it is 'bad science'

Answer by Sunny for New Study and Response: Are egg yolks as bad as smoking?

2012-08-15T00:01:13Z

Well the challenge with the study in the Science Daily article is that it doesn't take into account the "confounding" factors - the other things that could throw a wrench into results.

The cholesterol in the eggs may not be a problem as long as:

You are eating foods that serve to lower VLDL bad cholesterol.
You are not constantly suffering low level to high level inflammation due to allergies and a damaged gut, excessive chemical intake (i.e. nitrities).

As studies into ancient man have indicated (which are discussed in Robb Wolf's Paleo Solution and many other texts), they've studied dead people from the past and even people with plaque didn't really suffer heart disease or heart attacks because they weren't eating inflammation causing foods like grains, etc.

When you get the inflammation, it magnifies VLDL bad cholesterol which then joins with palmitic acid (saturated fat), which leads to plaque and then combined with calcium, clogs arteries further leading to high blood pressure and rupture.

So if the body is already inflamed, adding more cholesterol from another source may throw more fuel on the fire.

Of course things like omega-3 or even switching to grass fed saturated fats serve to counter this end result.

The above #1 and #2 are part of the confounding factors.

Answer by meta for New Study and Response: Are egg yolks as bad as smoking?

2012-08-15T09:45:49Z

This is an observational study that has relied on a very limited set of questions for data collection. Data on putative confounders such as exercise, waist circumference, and dietary intake of saturated fat and sources of cholesterol other than eggs has not been collected to allow for statistical adjustment.

In fact there is no detail on diet at all other than the amount of eggs consumed with yolk.

Importantly, the authors state:

"Notably egg consumption has resulted in divergent effects on serum cholesterol. In some studies raising serum cholesterol and in other studies being without effect. In addition, similarly to saturated fat, dietary cholesterol has also been shown to raise HDL-C. Part of the explanation for the differences in lipid responses may relate to genetic differences, such as in the apo-E4 polymorphism with carriers of apoE4 showing higher fasting LDL-C levels and differences in the ABCG 5/8 sterol transporter where ABCG 5 polymorphism increases sterol absorption. This situation is further complicated by the fact that cholesterol feeding may reduce the efficiency of cholesterol absorption and depress hepatic cholesterol biosynthesis so confounding a clear dose response."

Using evidence based methodology this study - on its own - would not be considered for making recommendations on patient treatment.

Answer by fromthericefields for New Study and Response: Are egg yolks as bad as smoking?

2012-08-15T13:13:17Z

I can find studies for every food out there saying it's bad for you