Limited egg consumption is often recommended to reduce serum cholesterol concentration for the prevention of CHD. We examined the association of egg consumption and total cholesterol concentration with the risk of CHD. A total of 90 735 subjects (19 856 men and 21 408 women, aged 40–59 years in cohort I; 23 463 men and 26 008 women, aged 40–69 years in cohort II) were followed from 1990–4 to the end of 2001 under the Japan Public Health Center-based prospective study. Total cholesterol was obtained in 36 % of the subjects. Men and women were combined for the analyses. The subjects were categorised into four groups according to egg consumption. Subjects with total cholesterol ≥2200 mg/l were less frequent in frequent egg consumption groups in both cohorts (trendP<0·0001). Subjects with <1 d/week of egg consumption were more likely to avoid a cholesterol-rich diet. Egg consumption was not associated with the risk of CHD, although total cholesterol was significantly related to the risk of CHD. The multivariate hazard ratio of CHD in subjects with total cholesterol ≥2400v.<1800 mg/l was 2·17 (95 % CI 1·22, 3·85; trendP=0·0018). In conclusion, eating eggs more frequently, up to almost daily, was not associated with an increase in CHD incidence for middle-aged Japanese men and women. Subjects with hypercholesterolaemia were less frequently in frequent egg consumption groups, probably because they avoided eating eggs.

Background: Because egg yolk has a high cholesterol concentration, limited egg consumption is often suggested to help prevent ischemic heart disease (IHD). Objective: We epidemiologically examined the validity of this recommendation. Design: We analyzed the relations of egg consumption to serum cholesterol and cause-specific and all-cause mortality by using the NIPPON DATA80 (National Integrated Project for Prospective Observation of Non-communicable Disease And its Trends in the Aged, 1980) database. At the baseline examination in 1980, a nutritional survey was performed by using the food-frequency method in Japanese subjects aged ≥30 y. We followed 5186 women and 4077 men for 14 y. Results: The subjects were categorized into 5 egg consumption groups on the basis of their responses to a questionnaire (≥2/d, 1/d, 1/2 d, 1–2/wk, and seldom). There were 69, 1396, 1667, 1742, and 315 women in each of the 5 groups, respectively. Age-adjusted total cholesterol (5.21, 5.04, 4.95, 4.91, and 4.92 mmol/L in the 5 egg consumption categories, respectively) was related to egg consumption (P < 0.0001, analysis of covariance). In women, unadjusted IHD mortality and all-cause mortality differed significantly between the groups [IHD mortality: 1.1, 0.5, 0.4, 0.5, and 2.0 per 1000 person-years, respectively (P = 0.008, chi-square test); all-cause mortality: 14.8, 8.0, 7.5, 7.5, and 14.5 per 1000 person-years, respectively (P < 0.0001, chi-square test)]. In men, egg consumption was not related to age-adjusted total cholesterol. Cox analysis found that, in women, all-cause mortality in the 1–2-eggs/wk group was significantly lower than that in the 1-egg/d group, whereas no such relations were noted in men. Conclusion: Limiting egg consumption may have some health benefits, at least in women in geographic areas where egg consumption makes a relatively large contribution to total dietary cholesterol intake.

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Long-term safety of consuming low-carbohydrate diets (LCD) in Asian populations, whose carbohydrate intake is relatively high, is not known. In the present study, the association of LCD with CVD and total mortality was assessed using data obtained in the NIPPON DATA80 (National Integrated Project for Prospective Observation of Non-communicable Disease and Its Trends in the Aged 1980) during 29 years of follow-up. At baseline in 1980, data were collected from study participants aged ≥ 30 years from randomly selected areas in Japan. LCD scores were calculated based on the percentage of energy as carbohydrate, fat and protein, estimated by 3 d weighed food records. A total of 9200 participants (56 % women, mean age 51 years) were followed up. During the follow-up, 1171 CVD deaths (52 % in women) and 3443 total deaths (48 % in women) occurred. The multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for CVD mortality using the Cox model comparing the highest v. lowest deciles of LCD score was 0·60 (95 % CI 0·38, 0·94; P_trend= 0·021) for women and 0·78 (95 % CI 0·58, 1·05; P_trend= 0·079) for women and men combined; the HR for total mortality was 0·74 (95 % CI 0·57, 0·95; P_trend= 0·029) for women and 0·87 (95 % CI 0·74, 1·02; P_trend= 0·090) for women and men combined. None of the associations was statistically significant in men. No differential effects of animal-based and plant–fish-based LCD were observed. In conclusions, moderate diets lower in carbohydrate and higher in protein and fat are significantly inversely associated with CVD and total mortality in women.