Harvard researchers took more than a thousand men with prostate cancer in the early stage and had monitored them for a few years to see if there is something in the diet associated with a resurgence of cancer, such as the spread to the bones.
Compared to people who hardly ate an egg, people who ate even less than one egg a day had a significant two-fold increased risk of prostate cancer progression.
The only thing worse was eating chicken (with skin) which showed up to four times the risk of progression among those with the highest risk. (read also: 4 Ways To Improve Liver Function)
Researchers believe the higher risk might be caused by the cooked meat carcinogens, heterocyclic amines that build up more in chicken and turkey muscle than in other meats.
But eggs? Why would less than once a day egg consumption double the risk of cancer progression?
The Harvard documents suggest that the choline in eggs could increase inflammation.
Eggs are the most concentrated common source of choline in the modern diet, which could increase the risk of cancer emergence, spread, and mortality. (read also: Figs Health Benefits And Nutrition Facts)
Another Harvard study, entitled ‘’Choline intake and the risk of lethal prostate cancer’’, found that those with the highest choline intake had a 70% increased risk of fatal prostate cancer.
Another recent study found that men who ate two and a half or more eggs per week—that’s just one egg every three days—had an 81% increased risk of lethal prostate cancer.
In the New England Journal of Medicine, the same Cleveland Clinic research team that conducted the famous study on carnitine tested feeding people hard-boiled eggs instead of barbecue. As they suspected, the egg-eaters experienced a sudden increase of the same TMAO compound associated with meat consumption (and strokes, heart attack, and death).
It is ironic that precisely the content of choline in eggs is something the egg industry boasts about. And they are aware of the cancer connection.
Through The Freedom of Information act, Michael Greger, M.D, was able to get his hands on an e-mail from the executive director of the industry’s Egg Nutrition Center to an American Egg Board executive director talking about how choline may be blamed in promoting cancer progression:
‘’ Certainly worth keeping in mind as we continue to encourage choline as another good reason to consume eggs.”
Read also: The Magical Properties Of Carrot Juice