1. Introduction
weight loss, metabolic dysfunction
COMPLICATION
Eggs—particularly egg yolks—are a rich source of bioactive nutrients and dietary compounds that influence metabolic health, lipid metabolism, immune function, and hematopoiesis. We investigated the effects of consuming an egg-free diet, three egg whites per day, and three whole eggs per day for 4 weeks on comprehensive clinical metabolic, immune, and hematologic profiles in young, healthy adults (18–35 y, BMI < 30 kg/mEggs are a rich source of bioactive nutrients and dietary compounds with roles in the regulation of metabolic health, lipid metabolism, immune function, and hematopoiesis [Given the potential nutritional benefits and socioeconomic accessibility of egg intake, the effects of egg consumption on clinical measures of nutritional status, cardiometabolic risk factors, and hematologic (mainly erythrocyte) profiles have been evaluated in observational and intervention studies; however, the results are often inconsistent and controversial, which may in part be due to differences in study designs (number of eggs per day, duration of egg treatment), populations (healthy vs. metabolic dysfunction), background diets (weight stable vs. weight loss), and individual variability between subjects [Therefore, we sought to evaluate the effects of consuming an egg-free, egg white, and whole egg diet on comprehensive clinical markers of diet quality, nutritional status, cardiometabolic risk, and hematologic profiles that are commonly assessed in healthcare settings and are controversial and/or lacking assessment in dietary intervention trials. We conducted this trial in young, healthy adults to evaluate diet effects without the complication of metabolic dysfunction or additional background diet confounders. In a subgroup analysis, we further evaluated whether the use of combined oral, hormone-based contraceptive (COC) medication in female subjects impacted the response to egg diets, given that COC use is prevalent in groups representative of our study population (young women aged 18–35 y), and the use of COC has been shown to impact cardiometabolic and immune measurements assessed in this study [