An egg a day doesn''t increase heart attack risk

London

A high-cholesterol diet or frequent consumption of eggs does not increase the risk of heart diseases, even in people who are genetically predisposed, a new study has claimed.

Researchers from the University of Eastern Finland found no association even among those with the APOE4 phenotype, which affects cholesterol metabolism.

They studied the dietary habits of 1,032 men aged between 42 and 60 years and with no baseline diagnosis of a cardiovascular disease.

During a follow-up of 21 years, 230 men had a myocardial infarction, and 32.5 per cent of the participants were carriers of APOE4.

Researchers found that a high intake of dietary cholesterol was not associated with the risk of incident coronary heart disease - not in the entire study population nor in those with the APOE4 phenotype.

Moreover, the consumption of eggs, which are a significant source of dietary cholesterol, was not associated with the risk of incident coronary heart disease.

In the highest control group, the participants had an average daily dietary cholesterol intake of 520 milligrammes and they consumed an average of one egg per day.

The study did not establish a link between dietary cholesterol or eating eggs with thickening of the common carotid artery walls.

The findings suggest that a high-cholesterol diet or frequent consumption of eggs does 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.

The findings were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. —PTI