title: Association of dietary cholesterol and egg intakes with the risk of incident dementia or Alzheimer disease: the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study.
abstract: There is little information about the associations of intakes of cholesterol and eggs, a major source of dietary cholesterol, with the risk of cognitive decline in general populations or in carriers of apolipoprotein E ɛ4 (APO-E4), a major risk factor for dementia.
  
  
  
  We investigated the associations of cholesterol and egg intakes with incident dementia, Alzheimer disease (AD), and cognitive performance in middle-aged and older men from Eastern Finland.
  
  
  
  A total of 2497 dementia-free men, aged 42-60 y in 1984-1989 at the baseline examinations of the prospective, population-based Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study, were included in the study. Information on the apolipoprotein E (Apo-E) phenotype was available for 1259 men. Data on cognitive performance tests at the 4-y re-examinations were available for 480 men. Dietary intakes were assessed with the use of 4-d food records at baseline. Dementia and AD diagnoses were based on Finnish health registers. Cox regression and ANCOVA were used for the analyses.
  
  
  
  During the 21.9-y follow-up, 337 men were diagnosed with dementia, and 266 men were diagnosed with AD. Neither cholesterol nor egg intake was associated with a higher risk of incident dementia or AD. For example, when evaluated continuously, each intake of 100 mg cholesterol/d was associated with a multivariable-adjusted HR of 0.90 (95% CI: 0.79, 1.02) for incident dementia, and each additional 0.5 egg (27 g)/d was associated with an HR of 0.89 (95% CI: 0.78, 1.01). However, egg intake was associated with better performance on neuropsychological tests of the frontal lobe and executive functioning, the Trail Making Test, and the Verbal Fluency Test. The Apo-E4 phenotype did not modify the associations of cholesterol or egg intake (P-interactions > 0.11).
  
  
  
  Neither cholesterol nor egg intake is associated with an increased risk of incident dementia or AD in Eastern Finnish men. Instead, moderate egg intake may have a beneficial association with certain areas of cognitive performance.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland; and.
authors.forename: Maija Pt
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Ylilauri
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland; and.
authors.forename: Sari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Voutilainen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland; and.
authors.forename: Eija
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lönnroos
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland; and.
authors.forename: Jaakko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mursu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland; and.
authors.forename: Heli Ek
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Virtanen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland; and.
authors.forename: Timo T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Koskinen
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Jukka T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Salonen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland; and.
authors.forename: Tomi-Pekka
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Tuomainen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland; and jyrki.virtanen@uef.fi.
authors.forename: Jyrki K
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0648-999X
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Virtanen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000818:Animals; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4 / Q000097:blood; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000097:blood; D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003071:Cognition; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004531:Eggs / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002149:Energy Intake; D056344:Executive Function; D005387:Finland; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D001057:Apolipoproteins E; D002791:Cholesterol, Dietary
keywords: Alzheimer disease; apolipoprotein E4; cholesterol; cognitive function; cognitive performance; dementia; eggs; population study