Kuopio, Finland--A new study suggests that moderate intake of cholesterol from one egg a day is not associated with an increased risk of stroke, researchers from University of Eastern Finland report in theAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The researchers also determined that there was no association between subjects who were carriers of the APOE4 phenotype, which affects cholesterol metabolism and is common among the Finnish population, according to a report on the study on Science Daily. 

The study looked at the nutritional habits of 1,950 men between the ages of 42 and 60 who had no cardiovascular disease at the start of the study. During a follow-up of 21 years, 217 men were diagnosed with stroke, but neither egg consumption nor the amount of cholesterol in the diet was associated with stroke risk. This was true even for carriers of APOE4, who, as the researchers explained, are more affected by cholesterol in the blood due to hereditary susceptibility.

The researchers noted that the findings are weakened by the fact that the subjects had no cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the study and the size of the study was relatively small. More research is suggested.