Using principal-components analysis on FFQ data from ~5,000 adults (4 ethnicities) in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, derives empirically-defined dietary patterns; a “Western” pattern loading heavily on processed meat, red meat, high-fat dairy, and eggs is positively associated with cardiometabolic risk markers (serum insulin, C-peptide, HbA1c) cross-sectionally and, in this cohort’s incident-CVD follow-up, with cardiovascular events. Demonstrates from data, rather than by assumption, that habitual egg intake co-occurs with other cardiometabolic-risk foods and behaviors in real US diets.
relevance_note: Empirical evidence for the dietary-pattern confounding structure that egg-only cohort exposure models risk missing or only partially adjusting for.