Eggs Enhance Dieters' Weight Loss

Eggs may be more effective than other foods when used as part of a diet, according to a new study released by Louisiana State University researchers Sunday.

Overweight women lost more weight during the course of their diets eating eggs for breakfast than they did eating bagels, according to the report, released at the annual meeting of Experimental Biology and funded by the Egg Nutrition Center and the American Egg Board.

Nikhil Dhurandhar, lead researcher for the study, said the eggs cause people to feel fuller longer, thus reducing the temptation to continue eating.

"While it's been well-established that foods such as eggs that contain the highest quality protein help people feel full longer, we were surprised at how definite these findings were," he said. "The women who consumed eggs as part of their diet plan lost significantly more weight, had greater reductions in waist circumference and reported significantly higher energy levels."

Study participants were put on a diet that reduced their recommended calories consumption by 1,000 calories a day. One group was given two eggs for breakfast, and another was given bagels with the same amount of calories.

After 8 weeks of this routine, Dhurandhar said the results were more than what he expected. Women on the egg diet lost 65 percent more weight and reported feeling more energetic than the women who ate bagels.

Kathleen Zelman, nutrition director for WebMD Health, said the study's results can be attributed to the protein content in eggs and recommended them to dieters.

"This weight loss study confirms what we've been hearing anecdotally for years," she said. "Eggs, which contain one of the highest quality proteins naturally found in food, are an easy, inexpensive and, importantly, versatile food to incorporate into our diets."

However, the study's results do come with some caution. The American Heart Association recommends limiting cholesterol intake to 300 milligrams per day, about the amount in one whole egg. While the study's participants showed no increases in cholesterol, they were consuming more than the recommended amount.

For those concerned about their cholesterol, most of the egg's protein is contained in the egg white with only a small remainder in the yolk. However, the yolk does contain a number of important minerals and vitamins as well and some nutritionists recommend eating it despite its cholesterol levels. The authors of this study did study whether eating egg white alone would be equally effective.

Sources:
Press release
Nutritionists on eggs