Table 5.

Studies with dietary cholesterol.

First Author, Location (Year)	Study Participants	Intervention	HDL Function Analyzed	Results
Andersen CJ, USA (2013) [75]	37 metabolic syndrome patients (12 men and 25 women) Age range: 30–70 years	12-week parallel diet interventions with: (1) 3 whole eggs (534 mg cholesterol). (2) Equivalent egg substitute (without cholesterol).	3H CEC in RAW 264.7 cells in isolated HDLs	Increase of 2.4% in egg group relative to baseline.
Blanco-Molina A, Spain (1998) [73]	15 healthy men Mean age ± SD: 23.4 ± 5.6 years	24-day crossover diets with: (1) Low-fat NCEP Step I diet supplemented with two eggs. (2) Low-fat NCEP-Step I diet without eggs. (3) MUFA-rich diet supplemented with two eggs (4) MUFA-rich diet without eggs.	3H CEC in Fu5AH cells in serum	Increase in low-fat diet enriched with eggs compared to the low-fat diet without eggs.
Blesso CN, USA (2013) [82]	37 etabolic syndrome patients (12 men and 25 women) Mean age ± SD: 51.9 ± 7.7 years	12-week parallel carbohydrate-restricted diet interventions with: (1) Three whole eggs/day (534 mg cholesterol). (2) Yolk-free eggs.	Plasma CETP activity	No effect.
			Plasma LCAT activity	Increase in LCAT in whole egg group relative to baseline.
Ginsberg HN, USA (1995) [81]	13 healthy women Mean age ± SD: 23.5 ± 1.9 years	8-week crossover diets with: (1) One egg. (2) Two eggs. (3) Three eggs.	Plasma CETP mass	No effect.
Ginsberg HN, USA (1994) [80]	20 healthy men Mean age ± SD: 24.4 ± 2.7 years	8-week crossover low-fat diets with: (1) No eggs. (2) One egg. (3) Two eggs. (4) Four eggs.	Plasma CETP mass	4 eggs/day increased CETP levels by 6% compared to other diet interventions.
Herron KL, USA (2004) [78]	52 healthy participants (25 men and 27 women) Age range: 18–50 years	1-month crossover diets with: (1) Eggs (640 mg/day cholesterol). (2) Placebo egg substitute.	Plasma CETP activity	Increased CETP activity in egg group compared to control in a subgroup of hyper-responders to dietary cholesterol.
			Plasma LCAT activity	Increased LCAT activity in egg group compared to baseline in a subgroup of hyper-responders to dietary cholesterol.
Herron KL, USA (2003) [77]	40 normolipidemic men Age range: 20–50 years	1-month crossover diets with: (1) Eggs (640 mg/day cholesterol). (2) Placebo egg substitute.	Plasma CETP activity	Increased CETP activity in egg group compared to control in a subgroup of hyper-responders to dietary cholesterol.
			Plasma LCAT activity	Increased LCAT activity in egg group compared to control in a subgroup of hyper-responders to dietary cholesterol.
Herron KL, USA (2002) [76]	51 premenopausal women Age range: 19–49 years	1-month crossover diets with: (1) Eggs (640 mg/day cholesterol). (2) Placebo egg substitute.	Plasma CETP activity	Increased CETP activity in egg group compared to control in a subgroup of hyper-responders to dietary cholesterol.
Martin LJ, USA (1993) [79]	30 healthy men Mean age ± SD: 23.0 ± 2.6 years	35-day crossover intervention with: (1) Low-cholesterol diet (80 mg/1000 Kcal). (2) High-cholesterol diet (320 mg/1000 Kcal).	Plasma CETP mass	Increased levels in high-cholesterol diet compared to low cholesterol diet.
Missimer, USA (2018) [83]	50 healthy young participants (24 men and 26 women) Mean age ± SD: 23.3 ± 3.1 years	4-week crossover diets with: (1) Two large eggs/day (370 mg cholesterol). (2) Oatmeal (384 g/day).	Plasma CETP activity	No effect.
Morgantini, Italy (2018) [87]	14 healthy participants Mean age ± SD: 25.0 ± 2.3 years	2-week crossover intervention with: (1) Low-fat and low-cholesterol diet (100–150 mg/day; 5–10% SFA). (2) High-fat and high-cholesterol diet (250–300 mg/day; 15–20% SFA).	Paraoxonase activity	No effect.
			HDL hydroperoxides content	Increase in hydroperoxide content compared to low-fat and low-cholesterol diet.
			HDL associated SAA	Increase in SAA content in HDL compared to low-fat and low-cholesterol diet.
Mutungi G, USA, (2010) [86]	31 overweight or obese men Age range: 40–70 year	12-week parallel carbohydrate-restricted diets with: (1) Three liquid eggs. (2) Substitute egg placebo.	LCAT activity	Increase in egg group relative to control.
Sawrey-Kubicek, USA, (2019) [74]	20 overweight women Mean age ± SD: 57.7 ± 5.3 years	4-week crossover diet with: (1) Two whole eggs per day (100 g/egg). (2) Two yolk-free eggs per day (100 g/egg).	BODIPY-cholesterol-marked CEC in J774 cells in ABDP samples	Increase of 5.69% in whole egg group compared to control.
			Plasma CETP activity	No effect.
			Plasma LCAT activity	No effect.
			Plasma paraoxonase-1 activity	No effect.
Vorster HH, South Africa (1992) [85]	70 young healthy men Age range: 18–19 years	Parallel diet interventions with measurements at 1, 5, 7 months with: (1) 3 eggs/week. (2) 7 eggs/week. (3) 14 eggs/week.	Plasma LCAT activity	Increased LCAT activity in 14 eggs/week group relative to 3 eggs/week group after 1 month (but not after 5 or 7 months).
Waters D, USA (2007) [84]	22 postmenopausal women Age range: 50–77 years	4-week crossover diets with: (1) Eggs (640 mg/day cholesterol and 600 μg of lutein+zeaxanthin). (2) Placebo egg substitute.	Plasma CETP activity	No effect.

MUFA: monounsaturated fatty acids. CEC: cholesterol efflux capacity. CETP: cholesteryl ester transfer protein. LCAT: lecithin–cholesterol acyltransferase. ABDP: apolipoprotein B-depleted plasma. SAA: serum amyloid A.