Stroke Risk Study On Eggs And Cholesterol Has Good News For Dieters

The research surrounding egg consumption, overall dietary cholesterol levels, and stroke risk remains murky. Some studies have found a link between diets high in cholesterol and stroke risk, while others have offered opposite findings, highlighting a potential link between eating eggs and a protective effect against stroke. A new study offers its own input on the matter, finding that moderately high cholesterol consumption doesn't increase stroke risk.

Low cholesterol diets are encouraged as a way to mitigate or potentially prevent certain health issues, such as stroke, which some people may be more at risk for than others. In an effort to lower dietary cholesterol levels, dieters may eliminate eggs (or just egg yolk) from their diets, but controversy remains over whether drastically reducing consumption is necessary or beneficial.

According to the new study out of the University of Eastern Finland, people who ate up to one egg per day or who had overall 'moderately high intake' of cholesterol in food weren't linked to an uptick in stroke risk. The findings remained true in people who carried the apolipoprotein E phenotype 4 (APOE4), which has a major impact on cholesterol metabolism.

Compared to other regions, a large percentage of people in Finland are APOE4 carriers at around 30-percent of the population. Of the study participants, 32-percent were known to be APOE4 carriers, but they weren't found to have any greater stroke risk in relation to moderately high dietary cholesterol consumption.

The results are good news for people who are genetically predisposed to experience serum cholesterol level changes in relation to dietary cholesterol consumption. It's important to note, however, that the study looked at reasonable dietary cholesterol and egg consumption — that is, one egg and 520mg of dietary cholesterol per day, which works out to around 720mg of dietary cholesterol daily.