The skeptical cardiologist wrote a post extolling the virtues of egg nog back in 2013.
Today I’m reposting it and wishing all my readers and patients a great Christmas and a fantastic 2019.
It’s Christmas Eve and you are starting to make merry. Time to break out the egg nog? Or should you eschew this fascinating combination of eggs, dairy and (often) alcohol due to concerns about heart disease?
- Cardiac deaths
- in the days around Christmas.
Could this be related to excessive consumption of egg nog?
Egg nog is composed of eggs, cream, milk and booze. All of these ingredients have become associated with increased risk of heart disease in the mind of the public.
Nutritional guidelines advise us to limit egg consumption, especially the yolk, and use low-fat dairy to reduce our risk of heart disease
A close look at the science, however, suggests that egg nog may actually lower your risk of heart disease.
Eggs are high in cholesterol but as I’ve discussed in a previous post, cholesterol in the diet is not a major determinant of cholesterol in the blood and eggs have not been shown to increase heart disease risk.
Full fat dairy contains saturated fat, the fat that nutritional guidelines tell us increases bad cholesterol in the blood and increases risk of heart attacks. But some saturated fats improve your cholesterol profile and organic (grass-fed, see my previous post) milk contains significant amounts of omega-3 fatty acids which are felt to be protective from heart disease.
Milk and dairy products are associated with a lower risk of vascular disease!
Whether you mix rum, brandy, or whisky into your egg nog or you drink a glass of wine on the side you are probably lowering your chances of a heart attack compared to your abstemious relatives. Moderate alcohol consumption of any kind is associated with a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared to no alcohol consumption.
So, drink your egg nog without guilt this Holiday Season!
You’re actually engaging in heart healthy behavior.
Eggnoggingly Yours,
-ACP
3 thoughts on “A Heart Healthy Egg Nog Holiday Toast From Dr. and Mrs. Skeptical Cardiologist!”
Hopefully the alcohol will kill off the salmonella bacteria that are ubiquitous with raw eggs.
Merry Christmas! though the picture is a tad scary. I have been doing low fat eggnog- sometimes whipped into my coffee and sometimes with rum. the calories involved are a different question altogether! ________________________________
Scary???