Dietary Cholesterol or Egg Linked to CVD and Mortality

An analysis of pooled individual participant data collected between March 25, 1985, and August 31, 2016 revealed that higher consumption of dietary cholesterol or eggs was significantly associated with higher risk of incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality in a dose-response manner. The analysis included 29 615 participants (mean age 51.6 years at baseline, 44.9% men and 31.1% black) from 6 prospective US cohorts. During a median follow-up of 17.5 years, there were 5400 incident CVD events and 6132 all-cause deaths. The associations of dietary cholesterol or egg consumption with incident CVD and all-cause mortality were monotonic. Each additional 300 mg of dietary cholesterol consumed per day was significantly associated with higher risk of incident CVD (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.17; adjusted absolute risk difference [ARD] 3.24%) and all-cause mortality (adjusted HR 1.18; adjusted ARD 4.43%). Each additional half an egg consumed per day was significantly associated with higher risk of incident CVD (adjusted HR 1.06; adjusted ARD 1.11%) and all-cause mortality (adjusted HR 1.08; adjusted ARD 1.93%). The associations between egg consumption and incident CVD and all-cause mortality were no longer significant after adjusting for dietary cholesterol consumption. Eggs are a major source of dietary cholesterol. Whether dietary cholesterol or egg consumption is associated with CVD and mortality remains controversial. Source: https://jamanetwork.com/