Egg Consumption and Dietary Pattern among Adults with Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Single Blind Cross-over Controlled Trial

Valentine Y Njike,

Published on: 2021-07-05

Abstract

Objective: In our previous report, we examined the dietary pattern with the inclusion of eggs in the diets among persons with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), using Healthy Eating Index (HEI) 2010. In this report, we re-analyzed our data with the current version HEI-2015.

Methods: Randomized, controlled, single-blind, crossover trial of 34 adults (average age 64.5 years; 14 post-menopausal women, 20 men) with T2DM assigned to one of two possible sequence permutations of 2 different 12-week treatments (2 eggs/day inclusion or egg exclusion), with 6-week washout periods between treatment assignments. For the egg inclusion phase, participants received advice from a dietitian on how to preserve an isocaloric condition relative to the egg exclusion phase. Dietary pattern was assessed with HEI-2015 at baseline, 6 weeks and 12 weeks.

Results: Compared with the exclusion of eggs from the habitual diet, the inclusion of eggs marginally reduced the diet quality score for refined grain foods (-0.6±3.4 vs. 0.7±2.2; p=0.0543) at 12 weeks. The diet quality score for total protein foods improved significantly from baseline (0.3±0.6; p=0.0078) at 6 weeks with the inclusion of eggs. The quality of dairy foods score decreased from baseline at 12 weeks (-1.3±2.9; p=0.0089) with the exclusion of eggs.

Conclusions: Short-term daily inclusion of eggs in the habitual diet in adults with T2DM could lead to improved diet quality. Our findings with the current version of HEI-2015 are somewhat similar to those that we observed using the preceding version HEI-2010.

scroll up