A Daily Egg or Two Raises the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

Two large studies have been analyzed to determine the possible role of egg consumption in the causation of type 2 diabetes. The results are reported in the journal Diabetes Care. The studies, which included food frequency questionnaires, were the Physicians’ Health Study (over 20,000 men) and the Women’s Health Study (over 36,000 women). The follow-up period averaged 20 years for men and 11½ years for women.
Diabetes was more common in both men and women who reported eating more than an average of one egg a week:
If a man eats 2-4 eggs a week he is 1.18 times more likely to develop diabetes than a man who eats no eggs;
if he eats 5-6 eggs a week he is 1.46 times more likely;
if he eats 7 or more eggs a week he is 1.58 times more likely.
If a woman eats 2-6 eggs a week she is 1.19 times more likely;
if she eats 7 or more eggs a week she is 1.77 times more likely to develop diabetes.
The increased risk of diabetes associated with a daily egg (or more) may be related to the increased dietary cholesterol and saturated fat (200 mg cholesterol and 1.5 g saturated fat per egg). But each egg also contains 0.7 g of polyunsaturated fat, which may reduce the risk of diabetes. (Even better - now you can buy eggs ‘fortified’ with omega-3 fatty acids!) There’s no explanation as to how eggs’ contents might influence glucose metabolism, however.
All-in-all, eggs are healthy, and one should not be put off eating them, based on these results. Only two or three a week would be best, however.