Bioactive Egg Components and Inflammation

Abstract

Inflammation is a normal acute response of the immune system to pathogens and tissue injury. However, chronic inflammation is known to play a significant role in the pathophysiology of numerous chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and cancer. Thus, the impact of dietary factors on inflammation may provide key insight into mitigating chronic disease risk. Eggs are recognized as a functional food that contain a variety of bioactive compounds that can influence pro- and anti-inflammatory pathways. Interestingly, the effects of egg consumption on inflammation varies across different populations, including those that are classified as healthy, overweight, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetic. The following review will discuss the pro- and anti-inflammatory properties of egg components, with a focus on egg phospholipids, cholesterol, the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, and bioactive proteins. The effects of egg consumption of inflammation across human populations will additionally be presented. Together, these findings have implications for population-specific dietary recommendations and chronic disease risk.

Consumption of whole eggs promotes greater stimulation of postexercise muscle protein synthesis than consumption of isonitrogenous amounts of egg whites in young men

“…However, the yolk is nutrient dense and may contain a variety of important bioactive compounds such as lipids, micronutrients, antioxidant carotenoids, and microRNAs (42,43). The removal of the yolk and its associated nutrients from eggs may limit the stimulation of muscle protein synthesis rates as well as overall human health (42,44,45). Overall, this work supports recommendations that nutrient-and protein-dense foods are cornerstones to meeting daily protein requirements to optimize muscle protein synthesis rates with exercise.…”

Hen egg carotenoids (lutein and zeaxanthin) and nutritional impacts on human health: a review

“…In addition to being protector of vision, clinical research data also suggest that lutein and zeaxanthin may protect against CVDs (Andersen, 2015;Gammone, Riccioni, & D'Orazio, 2015;Shin et al, 2013), oxidative stress (Fiedor & Burda, 2014;Sen & Chakraborty, 2011), neurodegenerative disorders (Calabrese et al, 2010;Feart et al, 2016;Nataraj et al, 2015;Nolan et al, 2014Nolan et al, , 2015, and possibly different types of cancer (Mares-Perlman et al, 2002). Over the years, hen eggs have acquired a bad reputation attributed to the high content of cholesterol mainly in yolks, which led to a serious decline in their consumption.…”

Eggs and Health Special Issue

“…The newly-released 2015 dietary guidelines finally took into consideration the epidemiological information and the data from clinical interventions and eliminated an upper limit for dietary cholesterol. This special issue addresses the history of the recommendations for eggs [1], the components of eggs providing beneficial effects against disease [2,3,4,5,6], the relationship between egg intake and healthy eating index [7]; the protective effects of eggs against inflammation [8] and oxidative stress [9]. Finally, the controversies surrounding egg intake and risk for diabetes are presented in a review of epidemiological data [10] and in a clinical study [11].…”

“…This article details the role of eggs as a component of the diet in some of these women and how egg-eaters achieved higher HEI scores, mainly by the higher consumption of high quality protein [7]. The anti-inflammatory properties of eggs have been demonstrated in numerous studies [8]. Among the egg components with anti-inflammatory properties are: phospholipids, the carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin and egg proteins.…”

“…Among the egg components with anti-inflammatory properties are: phospholipids, the carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin and egg proteins. The mechanisms of action of these anti-inflammatory components is discussed in detail [8]. The components of eggs that have been shown to participate in the immune defense and act as anti-inflammatory agents, have also been shown to be anti-oxidants [9].…”