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Nutrition PR - Lion Quality - Changing views on eggs and cholesterol
Egg consumption across the world was hit by research linking high-cholesterol foods with raised blood cholesterol and heart disease in the 1970s. Health professionals advised people to restrict egg intake to no more than three a week and for the next couple of decades this advice was widely repeated in advice from heart charities and in media coverage on cholesterol and heart disease. Subsequent research in the 1980s and 1990s showed that, for most people, high-cholesterol foods like eggs and shellfish are not the main cause of raised blood cholesterol - saturated fat is the most common dietary cause - but this was a much more difficult message to explain. The egg industry faced the challenge of overcoming the 'Three eggs a week' edict and reassuring consumers that it was OK to eat an egg a day. Programme: The British Egg Information Service, through Nexus PR, has run a long-term campaign to promote the benefits of 'an egg a day' message to health professionals, health writers and consumer media. The BEIS targeted health professionals with the science behind the new cholesterol message and developed literature for health professionals to use in GP surgeries. It manned stands at leading exhibitions to speak directly to practice nurses and nutritionists and set up a special website for health professionals with all the latest research on cholesterol. It ran an extensive, long-term campaign targeting the health correspondents and food writers on national newspapers and consumer magazines with the serious messages, as well as creating 'news' stories such as the launch of the 7-egg box to highlight the 'egg a day' message In 2009 it liaised with the British Heart Foundation and the British nutrition Foundation to publish an up dated research paper showing that eggs did not increase body cholesterol and that it was clear to eat as many eggs as you like every week . Results: All leading UK health advisors, including the British Heart Foundation , the Food Standards Agency and British Dietetic Association, now advise consumers that egg consumption need not be restricted. Eggs are no longer used to illustrate the cholesterol message and leading consumer magazines now regularly run features on the health benefits of eggs, several using the word 'superfood'. In 2009, the media response to the 'good news about eggs 'was overwhelming - an advertising equivalent of £600k in 3 days through newspapers , TV , radio and online Egg sales rose by 7% Return to Case Study Back |
