Egg

Studies in people

• Benefit

  Muscle health and appetite²

  Egg protein may help keep muscles strong, curb appetite, and support growth in children.

• Concern

  Heart and stroke risk³

  In people, eating more eggs was linked to higher risk of dying from heart disease.

• No harm found

  Heart health⁴

  Eating up to one egg a day was not linked to heart disease in this study of US adults.

• Open question

  Heart and cholesterol health⁵

  Scientists say the evidence on egg eating and heart health is still weak and unclear.

• Open question

  Food allergy treatment⁶

  Small studies suggest feeding egg in tiny amounts may help, but we don't know for sure.

• Benefit

  Alzheimer's dementia risk⁷

  In older adults, eating eggs more than once a week was linked to lower Alzheimer's dementia risk.

• Concern

  Heart health and lifespan⁸

  Eating more eggs was linked to higher risk of heart problems and death in US adults.

• Benefit

  Infant food allergy risk⁹

  Feeding egg to babies early, along with updated advice, cut egg allergy cases at age one.

• Open question

  Early feeding allergy prevention¹³

  Giving egg to babies at 4 to 6 months may lower egg allergy, but some had reactions.

• Benefit

  Eye health and vision loss¹⁴

  Eating eggs may help prevent vision loss because the yolk helps the body absorb eye-protecting nutrients.

• Open question

  Outgrowing food allergy¹⁷

  Most children outgrow an egg allergy by school age, and some can eat cooked egg while still avoiding raw egg.

• Open question

  Blood fat levels¹⁸

  In people, eating more eggs was linked to lower "good" cholesterol in one analysis, but not to higher total cholesterol.

• Benefit

  Dementia risk¹⁹

  In this study of older Chinese adults, eating eggs daily was linked to lower dementia risk than eating them monthly or weekly.

• Benefit

  Baby eczema risk²⁰

  Babies who ate egg white and yolk early had less eczema by age two, though scientists want more studies.

• Concern

  Stroke risk in diabetes²¹

  In men with type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance, eating more eggs was linked to more strokes.

• No harm found

  Heart risk and diet²²

  In older adults at high heart risk, eating eggs was not clearly linked to heart events, in people with or without diabetes.

• Benefit

  Muscle building after exercise²³

  In young men, eating whole eggs after lifting built muscle protein better than egg whites alone.

• Open question

  Frailty in older adults²⁴

  Eating moderate amounts of egg, meat and dairy was linked to slower frailty, but too much sped it up.

Study type not stated

• Open question

  Heart health²⁵

  Egg phospholipids may help heart markers, but eating eggs can also raise TMAO, which is linked to heart risk.

Allergies and intolerances

These are about people with an allergy, an intolerance or coeliac disease. The signal is about the ingredient itself, and these are about the person eating it, so the signal does not count them.

• Hidden food triggers¹⁰

  In children, egg allergy is a major cause of food allergy, and hidden egg can be hard to avoid.

• Allergy outgrowing¹²

  In some children egg allergy goes away over time, while others keep having reactions.

• Sudden reactions on retrial¹⁵

  Some children with egg FPIES later had sudden allergic reactions when egg was given again.

• Allergic reaction trigger¹⁶

  Ovomucoid is one of the main proteins in egg white that causes allergic reactions in people.

How it’s made and used

• When to introduce solids¹¹

  Egg is a key first food, but wait until about 6 months and serve it well cooked.

The signal at the top counts the findings in people and in animal and lab studies. A concern in studies of people outranks animal and lab studies, and “No concerns” needs at least one finding in people. When most findings in people point one way, the page leans that way (“Mostly”), and every finding is still shown. Findings whose study type is not stated are shown but not counted. This page is a reference, not medical advice. It describes what regulators and published research say. Talk to a doctor or dietitian about your own diet.