Heart attack: acquittal for breakfast egg

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High cholesterol levels go hand in hand with an increased risk of heart attack. That is why they are kept in check with medication. A low-cholesterol diet, on the other hand, does not appear to reduce the risk to the heart. This even applies to people who are genetically predestined for a problematic cholesterol metabolism.

Admittedly, eggs are cholesterol bombs. According to the German Nutrition Society, a single one of size M contains 240 milligrams - this content is only exceeded by some innards. Their high cholesterol earned them a reputation for being bad for the heart. Because in fact, increased cholesterol levels go hand in hand with a higher risk of arteriosclerosis and thus heart attack.

In-house cholesterol production

However, most of the cholesterol that wafts through the bloodstream is homemade, i.e. it comes from the body's own production. Because regardless of its bad reputation, cholesterol is vital: it is an important building material of all cell walls and a component of many hormones. The amount of cholesterol consumed is negligible compared to what the liver produces. With a healthy lipid metabolism, it is easily removed from the blood by the cells anyway.

A study by the University of Eastern Finland has now confirmed that a comparatively high consumption of cholesterol is not associated with a higher risk of a heart attack. According to her, an egg a day does not harm the heart. And that also applies to people who have a certain gene variant that has an adverse effect on cholesterol metabolism. Your name: apoE4.

In carriers of this gene variant, the cholesterol ingested through food has a greater effect on the cholesterol level than in others. That is why they are also called “high absorbers”. This variant is very common in Finland. Now a long-term study has even given this cholesterol-sensitive group the all-clear with regard to egg consumption.

One egg a day is not a problem

Even a cholesterol intake of 520 milligrams, including an egg a day, did not increase the risk of heart attack in the study. This also applied to the carriers of the critical gene variant apoE4. This fits in with the fact that the walls of the carotid arteries in the participants on a high-cholesterol diet were no more thickened than in those who had consumed low cholesterol. Such thickened carotid arteries develop when the blood vessels become calcified, i.e. when arteriosclerosis develops - the main trigger for strokes and heart attacks.

For the study, scientists working with Jyrki Virtanen evaluated the data of more than 1000 Finnish men over a period of an average of 21 years. At the start of the study, they were between 21 and 60 years old; a third of them were carriers of the apoE4 gene. 230 of them suffered a heart attack during the study period.

The real culprits: saturated fat

However, the study is not a license for unrestrained feasting - because even if consumed cholesterol carries fewer risks than long thought, certain dietary fats are still viewed critically: the saturated fatty acids. They have a much stronger influence on the amount of cholesterol in the blood than the cholesterol absorbed. But like cholesterol, they are also found in high-fat meat, sausage and bacon. So you shouldn't eat too much of it. Lean meat and eggs, on the other hand, contain a lot of cholesterol, but few saturated fatty acids. They are therefore less of a concern for the heart and blood vessels. (cf)

Source: Jyrki K Virtanen et al .: Associations of egg and cholesterol intakes with carotid intima-media thickness and risk of incident coronary artery disease according to apolipoprotein E phenotype in men: the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study, February 10, 2016, doi: 10.3945 /? ajcn.115.122317, Am J Clin Nutr, ajcn122317

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