The Study
Egg consumption, cholesterol intake, and risk of incident stroke in men: the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study.
This study watched a group of men for over 20 years to see if eating more eggs or cholesterol led to more strokes. It found no clear link, but it didn’t make people eat more or less eggs—it just recorded what they already ate. So we can’t say eggs cause or prevent strokes.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
This study looked at whether eating lots of eggs or cholesterol raises the chance of having a stroke in older Finnish men.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 552 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1The blood pressure drop is small and not clearly meaningful for health; stroke risk changes were too small to be sure they weren't due to chance.
- 2Men who ate the most eggs had 19% lower stroke risk (not statistically significant), and their diastolic blood pressure was 1.6 mm Hg lower.
- 3Eating the most cholesterol didn't raise stroke risk either.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The American journal of clinical nutrition
Year
2019
Authors
A. Abdollahi, Heli E K Virtanen, S. Voutilainen, S. Kurl, T. Tuomainen, J. Salonen, J. Virtanen
Related Content
Claims (4)
Eating foods that contain cholesterol—like eggs or shrimp—won't make a healthy person more likely to get heart disease.
In older Finnish men, eating a lot of eggs is linked to a small drop in the bottom number of their blood pressure reading, but it doesn't seem to affect the top number.
Eating a lot of eggs doesn't seem to increase or decrease the chance of having a stroke in middle-aged and older Finnish men, even though eggs have a lot of cholesterol.
Eating a lot of cholesterol-rich foods like eggs and meat doesn't seem to increase or decrease the chance of having a stroke in middle-aged and older Finnish men, even after 21 years of watching their health.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.