Could Eating Eggs Decrease Diabetes Risk?

Men who consumed over 5 eggs weekly had a decreased risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D) compared to men who ate 1 egg per week, according to a recent study.

“Eggs are a major source of cholesterol, which has been associated with elevated blood glucose and an increased risk of T2D,” said the study’s authors. “However, there are limited and conflicting data from prospective population studies on the association between egg consumption and risk of T2D,” they said.
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For the study, researchers followed 2332 men (ages 42 to 60 years) participating in the Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor study over a 20-year period.

Participants completed self-administered questionnaires, fasted, and took 2 hour oral glucose tolerance tests and blood glucose measurements at 4, 11, and 20 years after baseline.

Researchers also used records to hospital discharge registry and the reimbursement register of diabetes medication costs to monitor patients’ statuses.

After a mean follow-up of 19.3 years, researchers discovered that 432 of the men developed type 2 diabetes. Once investigators adjusted for potential confounders—such as age, hypertension, family history of diabetes, physical activity, education, and smoking habits—they found that men in the highest egg intake quartile had a 38% decreased risk of manifesting type 2 diabetes compared to those in the lowest quartile.

The study showed that metabolic risk markers suggested an inverse association with serum C-reactive protein and fasting plasma glucose, but showed no association with serum insulin.

Investigators noted that the links between type 2 diabetes risk and cholesterol intake, serum insulin, plasma glucose and C-reactive protein were mainly non-significant, especially after accounting for egg consumption.

The complete study is published in the April issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

-Michelle Canales Butcher

Reference:

Virtanen JK, Mursu J, Tuomainen TP, et al. Egg consumption and risk of incident type 2 diabetes in men: the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015 April [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.3945/ ajcn.114.104109.