Is Dietary Cholesterol Associated with Cardiovascular Disease and Early Mortality?

The average American consumes nearly 300 mg of cholesterol daily and three or four eggs weekly. Recommendations to lower cholesterol and egg intake are common, but recent dietary guidelines focus particularly on lowering intake of saturated fat. Researchers addressed risk associated with cholesterol and egg intake in six U.S. community-based populations with a total of 30,000 participants (mean age, 52). A single nutritional assessment at baseline served as the baseline for this study.

During a median 18-year follow-up, 5400 cardiovascular disease (CVD) events and 6100 all-cause deaths occurred. In analyses adjusted for relevant sociodemographic and nutritional factors, researchers found a significant association between cholesterol or egg c…