Does eating cholesterol and eggs increase death risk?

Eating an extra 300 mg of cholesterol each day—roughly the amount in one egg—might raise your risk of dying from heart disease by about 1.8% over 31 years, which could add up at the population level since Western diets tend to be high in cholesterol.

Men who smoke and have higher cholesterol levels are more likely to die from heart disease. For every increase of one standard deviation in cholesterol, their risk of dying from cardiovascular disease goes up by about 14%.

When researchers combined many studies about eating eggs and heart disease, they found that the results didn't match up well - some studies showed eggs were bad for your heart, others showed they were fine, and this variation was really high.

Eating eggs might affect heart disease risk differently depending on where you live - studies show it may slightly increase heart risk in America and Europe, but doesn't seem to matter in Asian countries.

Eating more cholesterol in your diet seems to make middle-aged male smokers more likely to die earlier, especially from heart disease. For every extra 300 mg of cholesterol eaten daily, the risk goes up by about 10% for all causes of death and 13% for heart-related deaths over 31 years.