An interesting study, dubbed the DIABEGG trial, explored whether overweight people with type 2 diabetes would benefit from eating more eggs to boost satiety and improve weight management. The only concern was – would their cholesterol levels climb through the
An interesting study, dubbed the DIABEGG trial, explored whether overweight people with type 2 diabetes would benefit from eating more eggs to boost satiety and improve weight management. The only concern was – would their cholesterol levels climb through the roof?
Although an average hen’s egg contains around 200mg cholesterol, their total fat content isn’t high (5.2 g) and is predominantly in the form of monounsaturated fats (51%) or polyunsaturated fats (16%) rather than the saturated fats which are widely demonised (although steadily gaining admirers).
The DIABEGG study involved 140 Australians, with an average age of 60 and an average BMI of 34 (obese), who also had poor glucose tolerance (prediabetes) or type 2 diabetes. Half were randomly assigned to eat 12 eggs a week (two for breakfast on six days out of seven) for 3 months while the other half were asked to match the protein intake of the high egg group by eating 10g lean protein from meat, chicken, fish, legumes or reduced-fat dairy products for breakfast but to eat less than 2 eggs a week.
At the beginning of the study, there were no significant differences between the two groups in age, fasting glucose, glucose control (as measured by HbA1c), blood pressure or total body fat, although those in the high egg group weighed an average of 98kg versus 93.3kg for those in the low-egg group. Both groups were instructed to maintain their body weight which they successfully managed to do (gaining or losing less than 1kg on average).
At the end of the study, there were no significant di