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Relationship between Egg Consumption and Metabolic Syndrome. A Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies

The journal of nutrition, health & aging volume 26, pages 373–382 (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

Objectives: Aims

To explore the association between egg consumption and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in the adult population.

Methods

The PubMed, Web of Science and Embase electronic databases were searched up to December 2021 for observational studies on the association between egg consumption and MetS in the adult population. The pooled relative risk (RR) of MetS for the highest versus lowest category of egg consumption, and the standard mean difference (SMD) of egg consumption for MetS versus control subjects were calculated. Egg consumption was assessed by a food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and the 24-hour recall method. The criteria for MetS were National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III), International Diabetes Federation (IDF), Joint Interim Statement (JIS) and American Heart Association (AHA).

Results

A total of 19 articles with 20 observational studies (331667 participants) were included in this meta-analysis. The overall multivariable adjusted RR (18 studies included) demonstrated that higher egg consumption was associated with a lower probability of having MetS (RR=0.92, 95%CI: 0.88 to 0.96; P<0.001). Subgroup analysis confirmed these findings in cross-sectional studies (RR=0.91, 95% CI: 0.88 to 0.95; P<0.001), studies that used the NCEP ATP III criteria (RR=0.94, 95% CI: 0.89 to 0.99; P=0.02), Asia (RR=0.92, 95% CI: 0.86 to 0.99; P=0.02), studies with samples sizes >5000 (RR=0.92, 95% CI: 0.86 to 0.96; P<0.001), studies that adjusted body mass index (BMI) (RR=0.90, 95% CI: 0.86 to 0.95; P<0.001) and energy intake (RR=0.89, 95% CI: 0.83 to 0.94; P<0.001) and high-quality studies (RR=0.91, 95% CI: 0.88 to 0.95; P<0.001). Moreover, the overall combined SMD (5 studies included) showed that the level of egg consumption in subjects with MetS was also lower than that in control subjects. (SMD=−0.22, 95% CI: −0.25 to −0.20; P<0.001). Sensitivity analysis demonstrated that this finding only existed in studies with samples sizes >5000 (SMD=-0.21, 95% CI: −0.29 to −0.12; P<0.001) and high-quality studies (SMD=−0.23, 95% CI: −0.26 to −0.20; P<0.001).

Conclusion

Our results suggest that higher egg consumption is associated with a lower probability of having MetS in the adult population. However, due to the limited evidence, more global well-designed prospective cohort studies are still needed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Changsha Social Work College, Changsha, Hunan Province, China

    J. Ding

  2. Department of Orthopaedics, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China, 410008

    Yi Zhang

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  1. J. Ding
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  2. Yi Zhang
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Correspondence to Yi Zhang.

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Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Financial Support: This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (82102581), National Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (2021M693562), Provincial Outstanding Postdoctoral Innovative Talents Program of Hunan (2021RC2020), Young Investigator Grant of Xiangya Hospital, Central South University (2020Q14) and FuQing Postdoc Program of Xiangya Hospital, Central South University (176).

Authorship: YZ conceived the idea and performed the statistical analysis. YZ and JD drafted this meta-analysis, selected and assessed each study. YZ was the guarantor of the overall content. All authors revised and approved the final manuscript.

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Ding, J., Zhang, Y. Relationship between Egg Consumption and Metabolic Syndrome. A Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies. J Nutr Health Aging 26, 373–382 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-022-1765-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-022-1765-0

Key words

  • Egg consumption
  • metabolic syndrome
  • observational study
  • meta-analysis
  • clinical nutrition