The relation between diet and the risk of developing ovarian cancer is unclear. An interesting but unexplored finding is an increased risk of ovarian cancer with increasing egg consumption: we have aimed to explore this relationship more fully than has been done previously. Using a case-control study design, 716 histologically confirmed ovarian cancer cases from major gynecological-oncology treatment centers in three Australian states were enrolled. A total of 806 controls were selected from

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... electoral roll. All women provided dietary data via a validated self-completed food frequency questionnaire. There was a strong and significant dose-response relation between cholesterol from eggs and risk of ovarian cancer (odds ratio ϭ 2.17 for highest intake of eggs; P trend Ͻ 0.001). However, there was no such positive relation with cholesterol from nonegg sources. The lack of a relation between nonegg cholesterol and ovarian cancer implies that the observed association between egg consumption and ovarian cancer risk is not due to the cholesterol in eggs. For now, alternative causal mechanisms, including environmental contaminants such as DDE, remain speculative.