Health experts recommend limiting egg yolks, as one yolk contains about two-thirds of a healthy adult's suggested allotment of cholesterol.

Researchers in Japan found that women who consumed one or more eggs a day were more likely to die than women who ate one or two eggs a week. The findings are published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The new results support advice to eat eggs in moderation, Dr. Yasuyuki Nakamura of Kyoto Women's University told Reuters Health.

According to Nakamura's team, it's possible that the health effects of eggs are greater in a population such as the Japanese, who may get a relatively large portion of their dietary cholesterol from eggs.

The researchers studied data on nearly 9,300 men and women who in 1980 completed lifestyle surveys, which included questions on how frequently they ate various foods. Participants' blood pressure, cholesterol levels and other health indicators were measured at the start of the study, and deaths were tracked over the next 14 years.

At the start of the study, the average cholesterol level among women who had a daily egg was three percent higher than that of women who ate eggs more sparingly.

The researchers found that women who ate an egg a day were 22 percent more likely to die of any cause compared with those who ate only a couple eggs per week -- regardless of factors such as age, smoking habits and body weight. Those who ate two or more eggs a day showed a still higher death risk, but only small number of women fell into that category.

Women who ate the most eggs also had higher rates of death from heart disease and stroke, although in statistical terms, the link was not significant -- probably, Nakamura said, because too few women overall died of either cause.

yolk
[n] 蛋黃
allotment
[n] 分配，份額
cholesterol
[n] 膽固醇
sparingly
[adv] 節省地，少量地