Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2023 Jul 17;12(1):125.
doi: 10.1186/s13643-023-02277-3.

The effect of whole egg consumption on weight and body composition in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials

Arezoo Sadat Emrani #  1   2 , Sara Beigrezaei #  1   2 , Faezeh Zademohammadi  1   2 , Amin Salehi-Abargouei  3   4   5
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

The effect of whole egg consumption on weight and body composition in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials

Arezoo Sadat Emrani et al. Syst Rev. .

Abstract

Background: A limited number of studies have directly examined the effect of whole eggs on body weight and composition in adults, and they have led to inconsistent results. This study aimed to summarize the evidence on the effect of whole egg consumption on body weight and body composition in adults from clinical trials.

Methods: Online databases were searched from inception to April 2023 for clinical trials that directly or indirectly assessed the effect of whole eggs consumption on anthropometric measures including body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and fat-free mass (FFM) in adults. A random effects model was used for meta-analysis.

Results: In total, 32 controlled clinical trials were included in the systematic review. The analyses revealed that whole egg consumption has no significant effect on body weight (n = 22), BMI (n = 13), WC (n = 10), and FFM (n = 4, P > 0.05). The subgroup analyses showed that whole egg consumption has an increasing effect on body weight and BMI in studies that lasted more than 12 weeks and in unhealthy participants (P < 0.05). A significant increasing effect on BMI was found in studies that the control group did not receive any egg (P < 0.05). Moreover, in studies that there was no significant difference in energy intake between the intervention and control groups, weight, and WC were significantly increased (P < 0.05). Additionally, in studies that participants in the control group received another food or supplement, studies with calorie restriction, and studies on healthy subjects, whole egg intake significantly decreased BMI (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: Although whole egg consumption had no adverse effect on body composition and body weight, in overall, it might increase body weight in long term. Egg consumption beneficially affects BMI in healthy people and during weight loss diet.

Systematic review registration: This systematic review and meta-analysis is registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO, Registration number: CRD42022308045).

Keywords: Body composition; Body mass index; Body weight; Egg; Meta-analysis; Systematic review; Waist circumference.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow diagram for study selection process
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Forest plot representing the effect of egg consumption on body weight using a random-effects model
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Forest plot representing the effect of egg consumption on body mass index (BMI) using a random-effects model
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Forest plot representing the effect of egg consumption on waist circumference (WC) using a random-effects model
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Forest plot representing the effect of egg consumption on body fat-free mass (FFM) using a random-effects model
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Begg’s funnel plots presenting the effect sizes versus their standard errors (SEs) for controlled trials that assessed the effect of whole egg consumption on weight (A), body mass index (BMI) (B), waist circumference (WC) (C), and fat free mass (FFM) (D)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Higgins M, Kannel W, Garrison R, Pinsky J, STOKES III JJAMS. Hazards of obesity-the Framingham experience. Acta Med Scand. 1987;222(S723):23–36. doi: 10.1111/j.0954-6820.1987.tb05925.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Must A, Spadano J, Coakley EH, Field AE, Colditz G, Dietz WH. The disease burden associated with overweight and obesity. JAMA. 1999;282(16):1523–1529. doi: 10.1001/jama.282.16.1523. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pi-Sunyer FX. Medical hazards of obesity. Ann Intern Med. 1993;119(7_Part_2):655–60. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-119-7_Part_2-199310011-00006. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chooi YC, Ding C, Magkos FJM. The epidemiology of obesity. Metabolism. 2019;92:6–10. doi: 10.1016/j.metabol.2018.09.005. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lee A, Cardel M, Donahoo WTJE. Social and environmental factors influencing obesity. Endotext [Internet]. 2019.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources