Do eggs help or hurt people with diabetes?

Table of Contents

Whether to Egg or Not to Egg

Have you ever tasted an egg from a contented hen that was raised on a farm? It doesn’t matter how you measure a chicken’s happiness—the important thing to remember is that these eggs are not like the ones you buy at the store.

The eggs may be brown and bumpy, but what about the nutritional differences between free-range and caged eggs? If they are free-range eggs, the shells are probably a little more delicate than those from caged hens because the free-range hens are feeding on bugs, seeds, mash, and corn without additives like extra calcium and arsenic. Exist any true distinctions? And do eggs make a nutritious complement to your diet? Lastly, is it possible for diabetics to consume eggs? Will diabetics benefit or suffer from the eggs?

To begin with, what are the nutritional advantages of eggs?

Only One Large Egg

An average jumbo egg has 90 calories, of which 56 are from fat (10% of which are saturated fat). Eggs are likewise high in cholesterol (266 mg), but they are low in sugar and carbohydrates! With nearly 8 grams of complete protein—which includes all of the essential and non-essential amino acid building blocks of protein—eggs are a fantastic source of high-quality protein.

Eggs are a good source of vital fatty acids (omega-3 and omega-6), vitamin A, vitamin D, and several B vitamins. Additionally, nutrients like calcium, iron, selenium, salt, and phosphorus are present in that same large egg.

Does the Nutrition of Caged and Free-Range Eggs Differ?

A recent study conducted by Rutgers University examined the nutritional differences between free-range and caged eggs and discovered that the former have lower cholesterol and better levels of vitamins and minerals.

They also discovered that compared to hens kept in cages, the meat from free-range birds had less fat and was typically rougher and stringier. Similar levels have been seen in other research. Free-range birds are often healthier and you can be more confident that they aren’t treated with pesticides or antibiotics.

Heart Health, Diabetes, and Eggs

People were advised to only consume egg whites or to stay away from eggs for a long time. The cholesterol content in egg yolks raised several red flags. Despite the seeming certainty of the research, the connection between elevated blood cholesterol and ingested cholesterol was never actually established. Simply put, scientists cannot morally regulate what people eat, which makes nutrition research famously challenging. Moreover, if scientists depend solely on participant responses to surveys about their diets, the results may not be very accurate.

A recent piece on fivethirthyeight.com, a (mainly) political blog, looked at the issues with nutritional studies.They discovered strange associations, such as the relationship between eating egg rolls and owning a dog and the relationship between eating cabbage and having a “innie” bellybutton.

These correlations are obviously meaningless, but they highlight some of the challenges associated with conducting nutritional research: there are simply too many factors to pinpoint the precise amounts of food that each person needs to consume in order to maintain maximum health.

The “odds” and “probabilities” that remain are then likely to be sound recommendations for the majority of people, although they may not be applicable to everyone. This implies that you have the freedom to choose. The greatest kind of research to assist you in making these decisions are scientific meta-analyses. These investigations look at earlier research; they compile all the data and perform a new analysis on it. By doing this, mistakes are generally reduced and “provable” material is approached more closely.

One such meta-analysis examined eggs and how eating eggs affects diabetes and heart disease. The investigators examined sixteen studies and more than ninety thousand people with and without diabetes. A few subjects were monitored for as long as 20 years.

This extensive study discovered that eating one egg a day on average did not increase the risk of diabetes, heart disease, or stroke in healthy individuals, but eating more than one egg a day was linked to a slightly higher risk of heart disease in those with diabetes. However, a different study found that eating more than one egg a day reduced the incidence of type 2 diabetes , which is consistent with the results of a different study that was also published in the journal Diabetes Care.

Contradictory findings are always a good starting point for a new clinical trial. Two more recent studies found that diabetic patients’ diets containing eggs did not increase their risk of heart disease and that the variations observed in previous studies might have been more related to the individual risk of heart disease than to the overall nutritional advantages of eggs. Put another way, the results of the earlier trials did not account for the fact that diabetic patients were already at risk for heart disease.

What’s the main point of this?

The basic line seems to be that you should decrease your egg consumption, possibly reducing it to 2-4 per week, if you have diabetes AND are at higher risk for heart disease (e.g., family history, high cholesterol, high homocysteine levels, etc.). You can probably eat one egg a day without concern if you have diabetes and are not at an increased risk of heart disease (e.g., no family history, normal cholesterol, normal homocysteine levels, etc.).

Eggs of Quails

There’s been a lot of information on the internet lately about quail eggs and diabetes. There is solid evidence that quail eggs are excellent sources of protein and have much less cholesterol than hen eggs—76 mg in a single egg compared to 266 mg in a jumbo egg—but there is no scientific evidence to support claims that quail eggs are in any way “special” for those who have diabetes. Nonetheless, considering that a hen’s egg weighs roughly 63 grams, quail eggs are smaller (9 g), meaning that quail eggs have roughly twice as much cholesterol per gram.

You now understand how eggs affect a diet low in sugar. Tell about your experiences eating eggs if you have diabetes.

DiabetesCouncils Article | Reviewed by Dr. Christine Traxler MD on June 11, 2020

Do eggs help or hurt people with diabetes?

Whether to Egg or Not to Egg

Only One Large Egg

Does the Nutrition of Caged and Free-Range Eggs Differ?

Heart Health, Diabetes, and Eggs

What’s the main point of this?

Eggs of Quails

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