Eating eggs not linked to diabetes

An egg a day may not keep doctors away, but a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that it may not increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes neither.

Dr. Luc Djousse of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston and colleagues conducted the study and found that eating eggs had nothing to do with type 2 diabetes.

The study involved 3,898 men and women aged 65 year old and older, who participated in the Cardiovascular Health Study. During the 11-year follow-up, 313 people developed type 2 diabetes.

The researchers found no association between egg consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes and even dietary cholesterol, which is found high in eggs, was not linked with eating eggs.

Studies are inconsistent.

A recent study led by Houston D. K. and colleagues from Wake Forest University School of Medicine found people eating  more than three eggs per week were 68 percent more likely to develop heart attack, coronary death or stroke than those who ate less than one per week.

One study reported on April 10, 2008 on foodconsumer.org suggests that eating too many eggs per week may raise risk of dying from all causes. The risk was found particularly high in people with diabetes.

The study led by Dr. Luc Djousse and colleagues and published in the April 2008 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that among those who had diabetes, eating seven or more eggs a week was associated with 100 percent increased risk of death from all causes.

However, the researchers found that overall egg consumption was not linked with heart attack or stroke risk.

By the same authors, another study published online on Nov 18, 2008 om diabetes Care showed eating eggs increases risk of type 2 diabetes both in men and women.