Eating Eggs Does Not Increase Risk of Heart Attack

A new study shows that a high intake of dietary cholesterol, at the level of one egg every day, is not associated with an elevated risk of incident coronary artery disease (CAD).

Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF; Joensuu, Finland) conducted a study in 1,032 men (42–60 years of age) with no baseline diagnosis of a cardiovascular disease participating in the prospective, population-based Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease (KIHD) risk factor study; 32.5% of study participants were carriers of apolipoprotein E type 4 allele (APOE4), a gene which significantly impacts cholesterol metabolism. The researchers examined the associations of intake of cholesterol and eggs with common carotid artery intima-media thickness (CCA-IMT) and the risk of incident CAD. Dietary intakes were assessed with food records.

The results showed that during a median follow-up of 21 years, 230 men suffered a myocardial infarction (MI), but egg or cholesterol intake was not associated with the risk of CAD. Each additional egg was associated with a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.17 in the ApoE4 non-carriers and an HR of 0.93 in the ApoE4 carriers. Each 100 mg/day higher cholesterol intake was associated with an HR of 1.04 in the ApoE4 non-carriers and an HR of 0.95 in the ApoE4 carriers. Egg or cholesterol intakes were not associated with increased CCA-IMT. The study was published on February 10, 2016, in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

“In general populations, the effects of dietary cholesterol on blood cholesterol concentrations are modest; however, the relation is stronger in those with an ɛ4 allele in the apolipoprotein E gene,” concluded lead author Jyrki Virtanen, PhD, and colleagues of the UEF Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition. “The findings suggest that a high-cholesterol diet or frequent consumption of eggs do not increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, even in persons who are genetically predisposed to a greater effect of dietary cholesterol on serum cholesterol levels.”

A previous study by the same authors in 2015 found that egg consumption was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, as well as with lower blood glucose levels. Men who ate approximately four eggs per week had a 37% lower risk of type 2 diabetes than men who only ate approximately one egg per week. The association persisted even after possible confounding factors such as physical activity, body mass index (BMI), smoking, and consumption of fruits and vegetables were taken into consideration.

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University of Eastern Finland