Do eggs cause prostate cancer?

[fridjonk]

"Compared with men who rarely eat eggs, men eating even less than one egg a day appear to have twice the risk of prostate cancer progression. And, men who consume two and a half or more eggs per week—basically an egg every three days—may have an 81 percent increased risk of dying from prostate cancer."

https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/eggs/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5472048/#:~:text=Eggs%2Fcholine,-Few studies have&text=In the HPFS%2C men who,risk of lethal prostate cancer.

I'm currently eating about 3-4 eggs a day 7 days a week. Since it's such an easy protein addition and I really like them. Even though this research wasn't completely bulletproof, it does however hint at the direction. 

Should I be considering cutting them out of my diet?  And do you guys eat eggs? 

[Thought Art]

Hmm, my opinion is that eggs are highly carcinogenic. So is too much protein, especially animal protein.

Edited February 7, 2021 by Thought Art

[Osaid]

Isn't the recommended daily choline intake 400 - 500mg? How would eating an egg every 3 days be causing cancer then? I don't get that hypothesis
 

I found another study saying the opposite: https://www.nature.com/articles/srep35547#:~:text=An increment of 100 mg,warranted to verify the results.

Sadly I don't think there is enough conclusive evidence. The real culprit seems to be the TMAO which choline can create, which also causes apparent cardiovascular risk in some studies, but then you also get studies which contradict that, like this one: 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181106073239.htm#:~:text=TMAO levels in the blood,substance made by gut bacteria.

Choline is essential to the diet, so the key seems to be to somehow control the levels of TMAO which it creates. I'm not sure what exactly causes or contributes to high or low TMAO levels though.

"The cause of high TMAO levels in the blood and the compound's effects on the heart and circulatory system are unclear, and earlier research has been contradictory." Sums it up pretty well I think

Edited February 7, 2021 by Osaid

[Michael569]

@fridjonk In this study,  men who ate >2.5 eggs were also more likely to have have higher BMI (being overweight is a massive risk factor for prostate cancer) and had the highest consumption of red meat and dairy (red meat is strong carcinogen and dairy is kinda controversial as well). They also consumed the least tomato sauce (tomatoes are super protective from prostate cancer) and drank the most coffee (high coffee intake was assoc with increased risk of prostate complications in other studies but it is still not 100% certain why this is, probably something to do with hyper contraction of smooth muscle around prostatic tissue).

Another thing is that those the study participants were health professionals which would suggest that maybe they have better nutritional knowledge, doctors are not necessarily the most knowledgable in this topic and health professionals generally are among the most stressed people in the world (and stress will probably also be relevant here). Also many health professionals eat cheap hospital cantine shit food loaded in salt, oil and fat. Things like scrambled eggs and red meat with mashed potatoes and fizzy drink will probably be common. Also consider that health professionals are frequently sleep-deprived and sleep deprivation is another risk factor for cancer

But these people with the highest consumption were likely to have overall pretty bad diets I assume with a lot of animal products and too little plants. 

As far as the prostate is concerned, the number 1 risk is a high-fat diet. I recall when I was doing my final thesis on benign prostatic hyperplasia (prostate growth) high fats diet was a MASSIVE contributor to this. Like we are talking around 45% increased risk if over 30% of calories came from fats especially animal fats. So it is possible that high consumption of eggs (eggs being high in animal fats) can be problematic. Consider that fats are often easily oxidised and most people who eat a lot of eggs fry them on cheap shitty oils like sunflower or even worse on butter which is where you oxidise the oil you fry on and also oxidise the cholesterol in eggs turning it into oxidised LDL, a free radical that acts like a tiny little time bomb. Prostatic tissue is sensitive to this sort of stuff. 

Also excess choline can be turned into triethylamine-n-oxide (TMAO) in the gut if the microbiome is not that healthy and this is another risk factor for bad health. 

We also have to be mindful that since these people were consuming 15.5 servings of dairy per week (although I can't find how much 1 serving was in this study and we know very well that dairy is loaded with growth factors such as IGF-1 which is like a steroid for your prostate cells growth. Then there is more growth factors in beef which is also loaded in chemicals and other crap and they were also probably eating more processed meats, salamis, bacons and all of that which are all classified carcinogens so it may not just be the eggs per se but the fact that there was a lot of animal food on the table. 

Anyway, long-story-short. Eating too much animal products may be a problem. If you were my client I'd definitely encourage you to cut down those eggs probably down to like 5-7 per week max  but since you're not I'll just say try to cut it down a bit. You can get a lot of protein from things like lentils and tofu and they ar both highly protective from many forms of cancers and are even tastier imo And if you are hesitant to cut down on them, consider upping your vegetables as fibre can help remove more dietary cholesterol before it gets absorbed in the intestines. Most of all, don't fry your eggs but boil them to preserve cholesterol integrity and prevent oxidation. Also if you fry use olive oil. 

Long answer but hopefully helpful

 

[Username]

I recommend steam boiling eggs. It is super easy, and it's the best way to preserve nutritious value. You need to pour water to the pot - around 1/2 inch should be fine. When the water is boiling you have to put eggs and cover them lid. Set timer for ~7 minutes.

Is also so much easier to peel them!

[Osaid]

10 minutes ago, Username said:

I recommend steam boiling eggs. It is super easy, and it's the best way to preserve nutritious value. You need to pour water to the pot - around 1/2 inch should be fine. When the water is boiling you have to put eggs and cover them lid. Set timer for ~7 minutes.

Leaving the yolk runny also preserves about 50% more nutrients compared to hard boiled

Edited February 7, 2021 by Osaid

[Username]

@Osaid This is why this method is so good. You have much more control and they are cooked mostly from outside. Yolk is barely cooked.

[fridjonk]

4 hours ago, Osaid said:

I found another study saying the opposite: https://www.nature.com/articles/srep35547#:~:text=An increment of 100 mg,warranted to verify the results.

Interesting. I was sure there would be some studies countering this claim. 

3 hours ago, Michael569 said:

(tomatoes are super protective from prostate cancer)

Yes, I read that in your e-book. Thanks for that btw, was very informative.  

3 hours ago, Michael569 said:

loaded in salt

What are your thoughts on people not eating enough salt? (not sodium). I read some Harvard research paper time ago saying people aren't consuming enough salt, but not table salt, rather mineral-rich salts such as Pink Himalayan or sea salt. 

4 hours ago, Michael569 said:

As far as the prostate is concerned, the number 1 risk is a high-fat diet.

Does that go for healthy fats as well? Such as peanuts, extra virgin olive oil, avocadoes, etc? 

4 hours ago, Michael569 said:

If you were my client I'd definitely encourage you to cut down those eggs probably down to like 5-7 per week max

I was afraid of this.  But I'd be willing for the sake of my health, and I'm always dead tired after eating eggs anyways. 

The more knowledgeable I become on food the more it sounds like vegetarianism and veganism are the way. Or at least cutting radically down on animal products. 

Thanks for the detailed answer! 

3 hours ago, Username said:

I recommend steam boiling eggs.

I'd honestly rather quit them than boil them. I really love scrambled eggs. 

 

[Michael569]

10 hours ago, fridjonk said:

Does that go for healthy fats as well? Such as peanuts, extra virgin olive oil, avocadoes, etc? 

Natural fats such as nuts and seeds, not at all, they are protective actually. 

10 hours ago, fridjonk said:

Yes, I read that in your e-book. Thanks for that btw, was very informative.

yeah I saw hope you found it helpful and not too complicated  

10 hours ago, fridjonk said:

What are your thoughts on people not eating enough salt? (not sodium). I read some Harvard research paper time ago saying people aren't consuming enough salt, but not table salt, rather mineral-rich salts such as Pink Himalayan or sea salt. 

I think you can live perfectly well without added salt as long as you consume enough sodium-rich vegetables but I find sometimes meals need just little bit to kinda tickle the tongue, if you know what I mean. The harmful amounts are I think over 3g per day.

10 hours ago, fridjonk said:

I was afraid of this.  But I'd be willing for the sake of my health, and I'm always dead tired after eating eggs anyways. 

The more knowledgeable I become on food the more it sounds like vegetarianism and veganism are the way. Or at least cutting radically down on animal products. 

Thanks for the detailed answer! 

Yeah, I've heard this independently from other people that eggs make them tired. Maybe it is the tryptophan and maybe just the sheer amount of energy it takes to digest egg protein. Diet is very individualised but speaking from a longevity and wellbeing perspective eating as little animal product as possible seems to be the way to go. I know many on the forum will disagree, this is just what I've gathered based on my research into a variety of diseases, organs and conditions. Don't know if you read my BDNF blog but when researching that I was surprised to find how much it gets suppressed by saturated fats...so maybe that says something. 

[fridjonk]

2 hours ago, Michael569 said:

Don't know if you read my BDNF blog but when researching that I was surprised to find how much it gets suppressed by saturated fats...so maybe that says something. 

Yes, I did read both part 1 & part 2; excellent posts.