Association between egg consumption and arterial stiffness: a longitudinal study

BACKGROUND: Inconsistent associations between egg consumption and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk have been observed in previous studies. This study aims to longitudinally investigate the association between egg consumption and altered risk of arterial stiffness, a major pre-clinical pathogenic change of CVD, which was assessed by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV). METHODS: A total of 7315 Chinese participants from the Kailuan Study, free of CVD and cancer were included in this study. Egg consumption was assessed by a semi-quantitative validated food frequency questionnaire in 2014. baPWV was repeatedly measured at baseline and during follow-up (mean follow-up: 3.41 years). General linear regression was used to calculate means of baPWV change rate across different egg consumption groups, adjusting for age, sex, baseline baPWV, healthy eating index, total energy, social-economic status, blood pressure, obesity, smoking, lipid profiles, and fasting glucose concentrations. RESULTS: Compared to the annual baPWV change rate in participants with 0–1.9 eggs/wk. (adjusted mean: 35.9 ± 11.2 cm/s/y), those consuming 3–3.9 eggs/wk. (adjusted mean: 0.2 ± 11.4 cm/s/y) had the lowest increase in baPWV during follow-up (P-difference = 0.002). Individuals with low (0–1.9 eggs/wk) vs. high (5+ eggs /wk) egg intake showed similar changes in baPWV. CONCLUSIONS: In this large-scale longitudinal analysis, we did not find a significant difference in arterial stiffness, as assessed by baPWV level, between low and high egg consumption groups. However, moderate egg consumption (3–3.9 eggs/wk) appeared to have beneficial effects on arterial stiffness. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12937-021-00720-6.