High-Egg Diets: Are They Good or Bad?

Individuals with type 2 diabetes who consume a high-egg weight-loss diet likely do not have higher cardiometabolic risk compared with those who consume a low-egg diet, according to new findings.

With this in mind, the authors of the study now say that “a healthy diet based on population guidelines and including more eggs than currently recommended by some countries may be safely consumed.”
___________________________________________________________________________________

RELATED CONTENT
Nutritional Pearls: Are Eggs Okay For Patients With Diabetes?
Could Vitamin D Improve Type 2 Diabetes Outcomes?
___________________________________________________________________________________

The researchers arrived at this conclusion following a study of 128 individuals with type 2 diabetes who were prescribed a 3-month daily energy restriction of 2.1 megajoules and a macronutrient-matched diet.

This study was a continuation of a previously published 3-month weight maintenance study that found that a high-egg diet had no adverse effects on cardiometabolic risk factors in adults with type 2 diabetes compared with a low-egg diet.

For the current study, participants received instruction regarding types and quantities of food to be consumed. Specific emphasis was placed on replacing saturated fats with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

High-egg diets consisted of at least 12 eggs per week, while low-egg diets included less than 2 eggs per week. Follow-up occurred at 9 months and 12 months.

Results revealed that weight loss from 3 to 12 months was similar for high- and low-egg diets, with no between-group differences observed for glycemia, traditional serum lipids, markers of inflammation, oxidative stress, or adiponectin from 3 to 12 months or from 0 to 12 months.

“People with prediabetes or [type 2 diabetes] who consumed a [3-month] high-egg weight-loss diet with a [6-month] follow-up exhibited no adverse changes in cardiometabolic markers compared with those who consumed a low-egg weight-loss diet,” the researchers concluded.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Fuller NR, Sainsbury A, Caterson ID, et al. Effect of a high-egg diet on cardiometabolic risk factors in people with type 2 diabetes: the Diabetes and Egg (DIABEGG) Study—randomized weight-loss and follow-up phase [Published online May 7, 2018]. Am J Clin Nutr. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqy048