Moderate cholesterol intake not associated with risk of stroke

Washington: Consuming up to one egg per day or moderately high intake of dietary cholesterol does not increase the risk of stroke, according to a study from the University of Eastern Finland. Furthermore, no association was found in carriers of the APOE4 phenotype, which affects cholesterol metabolism. The study was published in the 'American Journal of Clinical Nutrition'.

Findings from earlier studies addressing the association of dietary cholesterol or egg intake with the risk of stroke have been contradictory. Some studies have found an association between high dietary cholesterol intake and an increased risk of stroke, while others have associated the consumption of eggs, which are high in cholesterol, with a reduced risk of stroke.

The dietary habits of 1,950 men aged between 42 and 60 years with no baseline diagnosis of cardiovascular disease were assessed at the onset the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study, KIHD, in 1984-1989 at the University of Eastern Finland. APOE phenotype data were available for 1,015 of the men participating in the study. Of those, 32 per cent were known carriers of APOE4.

During a follow-up of 21 years, 217 men were diagnosed with a stroke. The study found that neither dietary cholesterol nor egg consumption was associated with the risk of stroke - not even in carriers of APOE4.

The findings suggested that moderate cholesterol intake or daily egg consumption are not associated with the risk of stroke, even in persons who are genetically predisposed to a greater effect of dietary cholesterol on serum cholesterol levels.

In the highest control group, the study participants had an average daily dietary cholesterol intake of 520 mg and they consumed an average of one egg per day, which means that the findings cannot be generalised beyond these levels. One egg contains approximately 200 mg of cholesterol. In this study, about a fourth of the total dietary cholesterol consumed came from eggs.