South Korea: Findings from two Korean cohort studies revealed that simply lowering cholesterol intake may not be sufficient to prevent chronic kidney disease (CKD). The study was published online in Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases.
The researchers showed that although cholesterol intake was associated with increased serum cholesterol levels, it was not associated with CKD incidence and prevalence. The daily intake of eggs was not associated with incident CKD.

Although dyslipidemia is a major risk factor for chronic kidney disease, there is no knowledge of the relationship between dietary cholesterol and chronic kidney disease. Haekyung Lee, Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital, Daesagwan-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea, and colleagues investigated the association between cholesterol intake and CKD risk.
The researchers used the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2019–2021 (n = 13,769) and the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES) (n = 9225) data for the study. Cholesterol intake was evaluated using a 24-hour recall food frequency questionnaire. Participants were categorized into three groups based on cholesterol intake: T1, T2, and T3. The primary outcomes were the prevalence and incidence of CKD.
The researchers reported the following findings:
Higher cholesterol intake was modestly associated with increased serum levels of total, low-density lipoprotein, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the KNHANES.
There was no significant association between cholesterol intake and CKD prevalence in the KNHANES, regardless of a history of hypercholesterolemia.
In the KoGES, during a median follow-up of 11.4 years, cholesterol intake was not associated with incident CKD in participants without hypercholesterolemia (hazard ratio [HR] per 10 mg increase, 1.00) and in those with hypercholesterolemia (HR, 1.01).
Egg consumption also showed no significant association with the risk of incident CKD.
Cholesterol intake had no significant relationship with serum cholesterol levels and incident CKD.
In conclusion, although cholesterol intake was associated with increased serum cholesterol levels, it was not associated with CKD prevalence and incidence.
"Our findings suggest that reducing cholesterol intake alone may not be sufficient to prevent chronic kidney disease," the researchers wrote.
Reference:
Lee H, Park J, Kwon SH, Jeon JS, Noh H, Kim H. Dietary cholesterol intake is not associated with the development of chronic kidney disease: Results from two Korean cohort studies. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2024 May;34(5):1198-1206. doi: 10.1016/j.numecd.2023.12.011. Epub 2023 Dec 16. PMID: 38218709.