9,263 Japanese adults ≥30 years old (1980 nutrition survey baseline, NIPPON DATA80), followed 14 years (5,186 women, 4,077 men categorized into 5 egg-frequency groups from “seldom” to “≥2/day”). Age-adjusted serum total cholesterol rose monotonically with egg-consumption frequency. Mortality was nonlinear and sex-specific: in women, the 1-2 times/week group had significantly lower all-cause mortality than the ~1/day group; no clear pattern was found in men. A 2017 re-evaluation of the same cohort with extended follow-up (Eur J Clin Nutr) reportedly confirms this women-specific nonlinear pattern (not separately minted — same NIPPON DATA80 data basis, found via this search).
relevance_note: An older, more cautionary Japanese anchor that complicates a flat “Asia = null/protective” summary — sex-specific and nonlinear, unlike the cleaner JPHC null.