Neither egg consumption nor dietary cholesterol are associated with an increased risk for stroke, researchers report.
Their analysis, in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, used health and diet data on 1,950 Finnish men ages 42 to 60. Over 21 years of follow-up, there were 217 strokes.
On average, the men ate about four and a half eggs a week and consumed 408 milligrams of cholesterol a day. After controlling for other health and behavioral characteristics, the researchers found no difference in risk between a man who averaged less than two eggs a week and one who ate more than six. And a man who took in 333 grams of cholesterol a day was at no higher risk for stroke than one who had more than 459 grams a day.
Even in carriers of the ApoE4 genotype, who are more susceptible to the effects of cholesterol, there was no link between risk for stroke and consumption of eggs and cholesterol.
“I wouldn’t say ‘eat a lot of eggs,’” said the lead author, Jyrki K. Virtanen, an adjunct professor of epidemiology at the University of Eastern Finland. “But for healthy people without heart problems or diabetes, up to one egg a day should be O.K.”