Everyone likes their eggs prepared differently. Some eat scrambled eggs, others like poached eggs and some eat hard-boiled eggs. Now, researchers say that cooking preference doesn't matter as long as you eat them five days a week. The reason: People who eat eggs almost every day are thinner.
Although this research doesn't provide definitive proof that eggs are the secret ingredient to a nutritious diet or slimmer build, scientists are convinced that the findings show that eating more of them will result in a healthy body. And that's good for us.
Spanish researchers compared the body composition of 355 university students to see if eating eggs affected diet or body composition. All adults in the study, published in Clinical Nutrition, were between the ages of 18 and 30. Height and weight measurements along with waist circumference were recorded to produce a BMI score.
Participants were divided into groups based on how often they ate eggs: less than once a week, one to four times and at least five. The study didn't record how the eggs were cooked, so it doesn't matter if you eat an omelet or a hard-boiled egg.
Can eating eggs improve your BMI?
Data analysis showed that those who ate eggs at least five times a day had significantly lower BMI and fat percentages than the other two groups. For example, their BMI was around 22.5, compared to just under 23.5 in the group that ate up to four eggs a week and 23.5 in the group that ate less than one egg.
Also, after adjusting for age and sex, those who ate the fewest eggs had a waist-to-height ratio of just under five, compared to 0.45 in the group that ate an egg almost every day.
Nutritional questionnaires also allowed experts to calculate regular protein and calorie intake to determine if this is what is behind the results. This analysis showed that the benefits of eggs are gained exclusively from their protein, as one large egg contains around 6 grams of protein.
The lead author of the study, Dr. Miriam Garrido-Miguel, argued that eating eggs more than five times a week should be recommended for healthy populations. In her journal article, she states that the connection between egg consumption and body composition is mediated by protein consumption.
This finding is important from a public health perspective, indicating that eating more eggs may lead to a healthier body composition, especially due to higher protein consumption.