Lose 11% Body Fat in 8 Weeks W/Out Dieting Efforts!? The 'Egg-Approach' to Low CHO Dieting Quintuples Fat Loss

There are 1bn ways to prepare your eggs and the Internet is a rich source of recipes.

You will probably remember the SuppVersity news about the pro-anabolic effects of eggs - whole eggs - from the other day. Now, "gainz" are nice, but as a recent study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham indicates (Goss 2017), they are also a highly useful diet food.

In their recent experimental trial, Amy Miskimon Goss and colleagues investigated the effects of whole eggs, being consumed as part of a low carb diet on the diet-induced changes in body composition, body fat distribution and selected health parameters in aging men and women.

Whole eggs are also an excellent source of dietary protein

Yolk: Triglyceride & LDL ↓, HDL ↑

Eggs Boost Vit Uptake 3-4-fold

Egg-o-logy - All About Eggs

Egg is Healthier Than Oatmeal

Eggs Contain Preformed Vit D

3 eggs/d = Doping for 'ur Heart

For their randomized clinical trial, Goss et al. recruited 26 men and women aged between  60 and 75yrs. All subjects had a baseline BMI within the "obese" category (30–40kg/m²) and were randomly allocated to consume either ...

• an egg-based lower-CHO/high-fat diet (EBD) containing less than <25% of the energy from carbohydrates, more than 50% from fat and 25% of the energy from protein, or
• a standard CHO-based/low-fat diet (STD) with equal amounts of protein (25%), but 55% of the energy from carbohydrates and only 20% from fat

for 8 weeks. Interestingly enough, participants were not asked to restrict total energy intake. What they had to do, though was to eat the eggs or breakfast bars, the subjects in the EBD and STD group were provided with, respectively.

Figure 1: Overview of the macronutrient composition of the diets (Goss 2017).

The subject's body composition was measured by DXA, their resting energy expenditure (REE) by indirect calorimetry, and insulin, glucose, HOMA-IR and lipids by analyzing the blood of the subjects after an overnight fast, at baseline and after the 8-week intervention.

How did they lose weight if they didn't restrict their food intake? That all subjects lost significant amounts of body fat is a logical consequence of being provided with energy-sufficient meal plans thar reflect either a low-carb, high-fat or a high-carb, low-fat macro composition, when the baseline diet is an obesogenic Western Std. Diet with a high fat and high sugar content. In the absence of detailed food-logs to compare the pre-study intake with the food intake in the intervention study, we do yet have to base this assumption on previous evidence.

As you can see in Figure 1 (and probably already expected in view of the 'ad-libitum' approach), the subjects on the egg-based low carb diet lost more body fat (11.0% vs. 2.3% total fat | p<0.01 for the difference between diets).  Healthwise of even greater importance is that the EBD group also experienced ~3-fold greater loss in unhealthy visceral adipose tissue (aka 'organ fat') compared to the STD group (−23.3% vs −7.1%, p<0.01 for the difference between diets).

Figure 2: Relative changes in total and visceral body fat as measured by DXA scans performed before and after an 8-week high-fat, low-carb (blue) vs. low-fat, high-carb (orange) intervention W/ dietary restriction (Goss 2017).

Against that background, it's at best mildly surprising that the egg+low-carb diet also yielded significantly greater decrease in HOMA-IR (p<0.01); and that only the egg+low-carb group recorded significant decreases in triglycerides and increase in HDL. The changes in lean mass and the subjects' resting energy expenditure did not change.

And there's more new egg research... well, sort of "egg"

That adding eggs can do the most if you use them to replace refined starches and added sugar is also supported by another ahead-of-print paper. The 3-week cross-over (2-wk washout) study one comes from the Midwest Biomedical Research/Center for Metabolic and Cardiovascular Health Objective and evaluated the effects of a substituting refined starches and added sugars (16% of the total energy intake per day) with a combination of egg protein (Epro; 8% total energy intake) and unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs; 8% total energy intake) - which is basically a lower SFA version of eggs from free-ranging hens - on insulin sensitivity (primary outcome) and other cardiometabolic health markers in overweight or obese adults with elevated triglyceride (TG) concentrations.

Choline is also essential if you want l-carnitine to actually work | learn why

The choline advantage: One thing that clearly argues in favor of eggs, though, is that they are one of the best dietary sources of choline which is essential for your metabolic and cardiovascular health and a typical deficiency nutrient in "no egg"-diets (learn more). Furthermore, choline has been shown to promote fat loss when consumed in conjunction with caffeine and carnitine (see "Forgotten Dieting Aids") and stand-alone when it's taken during contest prep dieting (see "2g Choline Double Fat Loss").

As you can see in Figure 3, the twenty-five participants' [11 men, 14 women; mean ± SEM: age, 46.3 ± 2.4 y; body mass index (in kg/m²), 31.8 ± 1.0] Matsuda insulin sensitivity index (MISI) increased 18.1% ± 8.7% from baseline during the Epro and UFA condition and decreased 5.7% ± 6.2% from baseline during the carbohydrate condition (P < 0.001). Similarly, the disposition index (tests the function of the pancreas) increased 23.8% ± 20.8% during the Epro and UFA condition compared with a decrease of 16.3% ± 18.8% during carbohydrate (P = 0.042).

Figure 3: Changes in glucose metabolism and blood lipids (as marker of heart health) in recent crossover study of the effects of replacing refined carbohydrates (16% total energy) with egg-wite + PUFA (Maki 2017).

Of greater importance for heart vs. metabolic health was the incrase in LDL peak particle size of 0.12 nm with Epro and UFA that stood in contrast to a further worsening in form of a decrease of 0.15 nm with carbohydrates (P = 0.019). Similarly, TG and VLDL cholesterol concentrations were lowered by 18.5% (−35.7%, −6.9%) and 18.6% (−34.8%, −7.4%), respectively, after the Epro and UFA condition and by 2.5% (−13.4%, 17.0%) and 3.6% (−12.5%, 16.2%), respectively, after the carbohydrate diet condition (P < 0.002).

Three whole eggs also deliver the most effective "dose" of  egg yolk to improve your triglycerides ↓ and LDL ↓ but HDL ↑ | more

Bottom line: The study at hand stands in line with previous "egg studies" (read them), which highlight that eggs are a nutrient-dense, health-promoting superfood and not the bad "cholesterol bombs" as which they are still portrayed by both, the mainstream media, and "nutrition experts" who haven't upgraded their cookie-cutter approach to nutrition since the 1970s.

In spite of the previously mentioned evidence of the health benefits of eggs, I would like to remind you that other low-carb compatible high protein foods could have yielded similar effects.

It's also worth to note that, in line with previous studies, the effects of the egg diet cannot be ascribed to "any particular metabolic advantage [of low carb dieting] for body fat loss" (Hall 2017), but may be attributed to the ability of 'low carbing' to "decrease hunger, reduce appetite and promote satiety" (Hall 2017; Noakes 2017) - nevertheless, we cannot exclude that other foods with a similarly 50%/50% ratio of protein to fat and an "eggscellent" complete EAA profile could have worked just as well... at least until a follow-up study explicitly compares eggs to other low-carb foods show the opposite | Comment on Facebook!

References:

• Goss, Amy Miskimon, et al. "Effects of an Egg-based, Carbohydrate-restricted Diet on Body Composition, Fat Distribution, and Metabolic Health in Older Adults with Obesity: Preliminary results from a randomized controlled trial." The FASEB Journal 31.1 Supplement (2017): lb320-lb320.
• Hall, K. D. "A review of the carbohydrate–insulin model of obesity." European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2017).
• Maki, Kevin C. et al. "Replacement of Refined Starches and Added Sugars with Egg Protein and Unsaturated Fats Increases Insulin Sensitivity and Lowers Triglycerides in Overweight or Obese Adults with Elevated Triglycerides." The Journal of Nutrition (2017) First published May 17, 2017, doi: 10.3945/ jn.117.248641
• Noakes, Timothy David, and Johann Windt. "Evidence that supports the prescription of low-carbohydrate high-fat diets: a narrative review." British Journal of Sports Medicine 51.2 (2017): 133-139.

Three Eggs a Day = Doping for Your Heart Health: Larger LDL & HDL, Increased Efflux and Transport + More Benefits

Don't miss out on a long-neglected superfood. With the latest study from the University of Connecticut the evidence of beneficial (heart-)health effects of increased egg consumption keep accumulating - and this time, we are up to three eggs per day in healthy subjects.

The latest study from the University of Connecticut adds to the previously discussed health benefits of eggs. Starting with the important and scientifically warranted premise that HDL function may be more important than HDL concentration in determining risk for cardiovascular disease, the authors Diana M DiMarco, Gregory H Norris, Courtney L Millar, Christopher N Blesso, and Maria Luz Fernandez conducted a study to confirm and quantify the previously observed increases in HDL and LDL particle size, LCATactivity, and plasma apoAII and carotenoid concentrations in unhealthy populations, in a group of 40 men and women 40 men and women [age 18–30 y, BMI (in kg/m²) 18.5–29.9] who were - hopefully just like you - perfectly healthy.

Whole eggs are also an excellent source of dietary protein

Yolk: Triglyceride & LDL ↓, HDL ↑

Eggs Boost Vit Uptake 3-4-fold

Egg-o-logy - All About Eggs

Egg is Healthier Than Oatmeal

Eggs Contain Preformed Vit D

More on Eggs = HDL Doping

Before the dietary intervention began, the participants underwent a 2-wk washout period, during which 0 eggs/d were consumed. This baseline period was followed up by sequentially increasing intake of 1, 2, and then 3 eggs/d (large, grade A, white purchased at local supermarkets) for 4 wk each; and before you ask: no they were not told to either hard-boil, soft-boil, fry or scramble them.

Figure 1: Overview of the intake sequence (DiMarco. 2017).

Aside from egg intake, participants were instructed to maintain their normal dietary habits throughout the study. The effects were then accessed based on fasting plasma (30 mL) that was collected at the end of each dietary period, and serum (10 mL) that was collected after intake of 1, 2, and 3 eggs/d.

Figure 1: LDL and HDL particle sizes; note: to make the figure more legible and the ratios easier to recognize, I converted the LDL values to nmol/dL (that's 1/10 of nmol/L as it is still used for HDL | diMarco. 2017)

The scientists' analysis of their results showed nothing but benefits with increasing intakes of eggs:

• 

  Figure 2: The antioxidant concentration in the subject's plasma increased linearly w/ every egg.

  improvements in particle size in form of increased largeLDL (21–37%) and large HDL (6–13%) particle concentrations in the subjects' blood,
• improved levels cholesterol efflux and HDL transport due to higher plasma apoAI (9–15% efflux) and lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase aka LCAT activity (5–15% transport),
• increased antioxidant defenses as can be seen in the 11% increase in apoAII (P < 0.05), the anti-oxidant, cardioprotective cousin of apoAI, and a 20–31% increase in plasma lutein and zeaxanthin (P < 0.05, see Figure 2)

In that, it is probably worth pointing out that more helped more, significantly benefit of the highest number of eggs (i.e. of 3 vs. 1-2 eggs) was yet only observed for the subjects' PON-1 levels, i.e. the levels of an enzyme that's responsible for hydrolyzing organophosphate pesticides and nerve gasses and has been shown to be a powerful anti-atherosclerotic (=protection against cardiovascular disease) component of high-density lipoprotein (HDL | Getz. 2004).

It's not just high levels of small LDL or, even worse, VLDL cholesterol that is a problem you cannot ignore. Recent research shows: The same can be the case for low cholesterol, too. The dreaded lipid transporter is essential for normal immune health | more

From Villain to Savior? We have been told for decades that cholesterol was killing us. As it turns out, that was wrong. It would be a mistake, however, to go from "cholesterol kills" to "cholesterol does not matter at all", overnight. After all, the cholesterol hypothesis of heart disease has not been completely falsified. Rather than that, it has been refined with particle sizes, ratios of LDL/HDL, HDL/triglycerides, apoA-X levels, etc; and if you include these variables in your assessment of the health effects of eggs, the small increase in LDL and total cholesterol, of which Ancel Keys still believed that it would kill you, is significantly less important for the heart health of people who don't belong to a genetically determined risk group than the beneficial effects on these parameters.

What the egg intake did not do, was to affect the cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) activity. This may seem bad in view of the fact that one of the functions of CETP is to exchange the cholesterol esther load from VLDL and LDL for that from HDL, but scientific evidence that more CETP would increase your life expectancy or decrease your heart disease risk is not available.

Figure 3: Just as in previous studies, there was a correlation between increased ApoA-I concentrations (DiMarco. 2017) and the number of large HDL particles - both have been associated w/ reduced heart disease risk.

What we do know, however, is that rare mutations leading to a significantly reduced function of CETP have been linked to accelerated atherosclerosis. While a polymorphism (I405V) of the CETP gene leading to lower serum levels has been linked to exceptional longevity (Barzilai. 2003) and to metabolic response to nutritional intervention (Darabi. 2009). Since the same mutation will yet also increases the prevalence of coronary heart disease in patients with hypertriglyceridemia, I guess it's actually good news that CETP didn't change over the course of the 3x4-week intervention, of which I should probably mention that it was funded by the Egg Nutrition Center.

Is the fact that the study was funded by the Egg Nutrition Center bad news? Probably not, after all, it is very unlikely that the scientists would have gotten public funding for a study in (a) healthy subjects that (b) served its subjects three eggs a day, not per week as it has been done in most of the previous experiments. Plus: Their conclusion, which is where you will usually find evidence of a bias if there is one, is neither exaggerating nor misrepresenting their findings: "Overall, intake of ≲3 eggs/d favored a less atherogenic LDL particle profile, improved HDL function, and increased plasma antioxidants in young, healthy adults" (DiMarco. 2017).

Three whole eggs also deliver the most effective "dose" of  egg yolk to improve your triglycerides ↓ and LDL ↓ but HDL ↑ | more

So, what should I remember? It's not just that you can have your egg(s) and still be healthy, it's rather that you can have your (at least three) eggs (per day) and thus be healthy - heart-healthy, as this particular study with its improvements in particle sizes (those have been linked to reduced risk of heart disease - 55% reduced w/ fluffy LDL in Lamarche. 2001; and Williams et al. (2012) show that a higher concentration of the larger, more buoyant HDL is closely associated with decreased CVD risk), cholesterol efflux and transport, as well as the total antioxidant status of the subjects' blood shows.

I agree, it would be nice to have a 12-months extension to the study, but eventually it is very unlikely that the medium-term benefits would turn into downsides in the long run. Against that background, I personally am more disappointed that we still don't have the study/-ies to access any potential differences in the health effects of soft- vs. hard-boiled, scrambled and fried eggs. Based on what you've learned about oxysterols in my old article on cholesterol oxidation during cooking, though, you are better off if the yolk is still soft... and let's be honest: it's also tastier | Comment!

References:

• Barzilai, Nir, et al. "Unique lipoprotein phenotype and genotype associated with exceptional longevity." Jama 290.15 (2003): 2030-2040.
• Darabi, M., et al. "Cholesteryl ester transfer protein I405V polymorphism influences apolipoprotein AI response to a change in dietary fatty acid composition." Hormone and metabolic research 41.07 (2009): 554-558.
• DiMarco, et al. "Intake of up to 3 Eggs per Day Is Associated with Changes in HDL Function and Increased Plasma Antioxidants in Healthy, Young Adults." American Society for Nutrition (2017). jn241877
• Getz, Godfrey S., and Catherine A. Reardon. "Paraoxonase, a cardioprotective enzyme: continuing issues." Current opinion in lipidology 15.3 (2004): 261-267.
• Kapourchali, Fatemeh Ramezani, et al. "The Role of Dietary Cholesterol in Lipoprotein Metabolism and Related Metabolic Abnormalities: A Mini-review." Critical reviews in food science and nutrition just-accepted (2015): 00-00.
• Lamarche, Benoit, et al. "A prospective, population-based study of low density lipoprotein particle size as a risk factor for ischemic heart disease in men." The Canadian journal of cardiology 17.8 (2001): 859-865.
• Williams, Paul T., et al. "The effects of weight loss by exercise or by dieting on plasma high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels in men with low, intermediate, and normal-to-high HDL at baseline." Metabolism 43.7 (1994): 917-924.
• Williams, Paul T. "Fifty-three year follow-up of coronary heart disease versus HDL2 and other lipoproteins in Gofman's Livermore Cohort." Journal of lipid research 53.2 (2012): 266-272.

Egg-Ology Today: The Underappreciated Health Benefits of Egg Phospholipids, Proteins & Antioxidants in the Yolk

The yolk is where almost all the "good" stuff in the eggs resides. Throwing the yolk of the 1-2 eggs you eat per day away, as people have been doing it for decades is thus madness.

For decades eggs have been falsely accused of being the drivers of the heart disease epidemic (cardiovascular disease claims upwards of 17 million lives worldwide each year | WHO. 2011). More recently, however, the small "cholesterol bombs" have been acquitted of all charges and scientists begin to (re-)evaluate their already know, but largely ignored health benefits. Health benefits that are not solely related to their high protein content, by the way.

As a SuppVersity reader you will know that eggs are valuable protein sources, but don't worry: This is not what today's SuppVersity article is about. Rather than that I would like to highlight a much less-known egg constituent, the egg phospholipids.

Learn more about the effects of your diet on your health at the SuppVersity

Only Whey, Not Soy Works for Wheytloss

Taste Matters - Role of the Taste Receptors

Dairy Protein Shoot-Out: Casein vs. Whey

How Much Carbs Before Fat is Unhealthy?

5 Tips to Improve & Maintain Insulin Sensitivity

The Paleo Diet Was Never Ketogenic!

Studies indicate that eggs are the major source of phospholipids (PL) in the Western diet; the same phospholipids that "have emerged as a potential source of bioactive lipids that may have widespread effects on pathways related to inflammation, cholesterol metabolism, and HDL function" (Blesso. 2015).

Table 1: Typical Composition of Egg Phospholipids | FA, fatty acid; LysoPC, lysophosphatidylcholine; LysoPE, lysophospha-tidylethanolamine; PC, phosphatidylcholine; PE, phospha-tidylethanolamine; PI, phosphatidylinositol; PL, phospholipid; SM, sphingomyelin. (Blesso. 2015)

"PL are key components of all biological membranes and are abundantly found in the diet, primarily as glycerophospholipid and sphingolipid classes. Dietary glycerophospholipids are made up of two fatty acids (FA), a glycerol backbone, a phosphate group, and a polar organic molecule (choline, serine, inositol, or ethanolamine).[...] The average large egg contains approximately 1.3 g of PL, which are almost exclusively found in the yolk. 

An egg breakfast improves the levels of triglycerides in active indiv. compared to an isocaloric bagel breakfast (Clayton. 2015).

Egg vs. oatmeal (more) and egg vs. bagel: You will probably still remember my recent article about a study by Ballesteros, et al. (2015) showing that an egg per day improves inflammation when compared to an oatmeal-based breakfast without increasing other cardiometabolic risk factors not just in healthy, but even in diabetic patients (read more | Ballesteros. 2015). In a similar, but more complex study, Clayton et al. (2015) found that compared to an isoenergetic breakfast with bagels, a daily breakfasts that includes two eggs will improve plasma triglycerides in active (resistance training) men and women.

A typical Western diet contains about 2–8 g of dietary PL per day. Estimates of average egg intake in the U.S. indicate that egg-derived PL contributes 10%–40% (or 0.8 g) of daily consumed PL. The major PL species found in egg include PC, phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), SM, and phosphatidylinositol (PI). The typical PL composition of egg is shown in Table 1, which reveals PC as the predominant species making up almost three quarters of the total PL. The typical FA compositions of egg PL species vary and are shown in Table 1" (Blesso. 2015).

Alongside carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, two potent anti-oxidant agents in eggs, and the previously mentioned phospholipids which have also been shown to

• 

  Eggs have beneficial effects on cholesterol in your cells | learn more

  decrease serum cholesterol levels in rats (Murata. 1982) and a reduction of the intestinal absorption of cholesterol (Jiang. 2001), 
• improve memory retention and increase acetylcholine concentrations, a neurotransmitter that decreases in concentration in cases of Alzheimer’s disease (Masuda. 1998;  Favreliere. 2003), as well as 
• improve liver function, and cancer prevention (Gutierrez. 1997),

there are also a hand full of peptide / proteins and related agents - mostly in the yolk of eggs - that make eggs a totally underestimated health food:

• 

  Table 2: Biological acitivities of egg proteins (Kovacs-Nolan. 2005)

  yolk proteins - ovalbumin, ovotranserin, ovucoid, ovomucin, lysozyme, as well as ovoinhibitor, vomacroglobulin, ovomacroglobulin and avidin have antibacterial activity and antihypertensive, immunomodulating, antiadhesive (=interferes with a key step of inflammation), antitumor, and antiviral activities (to find out what does what, check out Table 2 from Kovacs-Nolan. 2005);
• immunoglobulins - specifically immunoglobolin Y from egg yolk which has been shown to have antibacterial activity, antiviral activity, can reduce the incidence of dental caries, is used in anti-venoms, acts as an anti-inflammatory agent, and serves as a carrier for anti-cancer drugs (Mine. 2004);
• other components of the yolk - including phosvitin, sialyloligosaccharides and sialylglycopeptides, as well as the yolk lipids, lipoproteins, fatty acids, and cholesterol have scientifically proven antioxidant and antibacterial activities, as well (Kovacs-Nolan. 2005)

Men and women with familial hypercholesterolemia have a lack of / defective LDL receptors and a defective regulation of  the endogenous cholesterol production. For them reducing the intake of cholesterol and taking statins is in fact a good idea (Goldstein. 2015). The same may go for people with various other specific genetic polymorphisms a dozen of which have recently been summarized by Abdullah et al. (2015).

For 99% of us, there's no reason to be afraid of the cholesterol in eggs: Unfortunately, there's a small portion of the population whose genes predispose them to "abnormal" increases in serum cholesterol in response to increased cholesterol intake. Next to familial hypercholesterolemia (Goldstein. 2015), there are a number of other - albeit less threatening - polymorphisms (e.g. the ABCG5 polymorphism | Herron. 2006; see Abdullah. 2015 for a summary) which may explain why most (e.g. Nakamura. 2006), but not all studies refute the claim that an increased egg consumption triggers increases in cholesterol and subsequent increases in CVD risk in healthy indiv.

If you take a look at more general studies, and the negligible 0.38% increase of the LDL:HDL ratio McNamara et al. (2000) calculated per 100mg increase in cholesterol intake in their meta-analysis it is no wonder that all, not just "egg centered" epidemiological studies show that "dietary cholesterol is not related to coronary heart disease incidence or mortality across or within populations" (McNamara. 2000).

This does not mean that I recommend consuming 20 whole eggs per day. Especially for those of you who consume high amounts of carbohydrates, this may turn your diet into a highly unfavorable high fat + high carbohydrate diet, but 1-2 whole eggs a day ain't no problem; irrespective of what the rest of your diet looks like (assuming you don't belong to the previously mentioned group of people who are genetically disposed to have problems with their lipid metabolism) | Comment! 

References:

• Abdullah, Mohammad MH, Peter JH Jones, and Peter K. Eck. "Nutrigenetics of cholesterol metabolism: observational and dietary intervention studies in the postgenomic era." Nutrition reviews (2015): nuv016.
• Ballesteros, Martha Nydia, et al. "One Egg per Day Improves Inflammation when Compared to an Oatmeal-Based Breakfast without Increasing Other Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Diabetic Patients." Nutrients 7.5 (2015): 3449-3463.
• Blesso, Christopher N. "Egg Phospholipids and Cardiovascular Health." Nutrients 7.4 (2015): 2731-2747.
• Clayton, Zachary S., et al. "Influence of Resistance Training Combined with Daily Consumption of an Egg-based or Bagel-based Breakfast on Risk Factors for Chronic Diseases in Healthy Untrained Individuals." Journal of the American College of Nutrition 34.2 (2015): 113-119.
• Favreliere, S., et al. "DHA-enriched phospholipid diets modulate age-related alterations in rat hippocampus." Neurobiology of aging 24.2 (2003): 233-243.
• Goldstein, Joseph L., and Michael S. Brown. "A Century of Cholesterol and Coronaries: From Plaques to Genes to Statins." Cell 161.1 (2015): 161-172.
• Gutierrez, M. A., H. Takahashi, and L. R. Juneja. "Nutritive evaluation of hen eggs." Hen eggs, their basic and applied science. 2nd ed. CRC Press, New York (1997): 25-35.
• Herron, Kristin L., et al. "The ABCG5 polymorphism contributes to individual responses to dietary cholesterol and carotenoids in eggs." The Journal of nutrition 136.5 (2006): 1161-1165.
• Jiang, Yongzhi, Sang K. Noh, and Sung I. Koo. "Egg phosphatidylcholine decreases the lymphatic absorption of cholesterol in rats." The Journal of nutrition 131.9 (2001): 2358-2363.
• Kovacs-Nolan, Jennifer, Marshall Phillips, and Yoshinori Mine. "Advances in the value of eggs and egg components for human health." Journal of agricultural and food chemistry 53.22 (2005): 8421-8431.
• Masuda, Y., et al. "Egg phosphatidylcholine combined with vitamin B 12 improved memory impairment following lesioning of nucleus basalis in rats." Life sciences 62.9 (1998): 813-822.
• McNamara, Donald J. "The impact of egg limitations on coronary heart disease risk: do the numbers add up?." Journal of the American College of Nutrition 19.sup5 (2000): 540S-548S.
• Mine, Yoshinori, and Jennifer Kovacs-Nolan. "Biologically active hen egg components in human health and disease." The Journal of Poultry Science 41.1 (2004): 1-29.
• Murata, Masakazu, Katsumi Imaizumi, and Michihiro Sugano. "Effect of dietary phospholipids and their constituent bases on serum lipids and apolipoproteins in rats." The Journal of nutrition 112.9 (1982): 1805-1808.
• Nakamura, Yasuyuki, et al. "Egg consumption, serum total cholesterol concentrations and coronary heart disease incidence: Japan Public Health Center-based prospective study." British Journal of Nutrition 96.05 (2006): 921-928.
• World Health Organization. Global Status Report on Noncommunicable Diseases 2010; World Health Organization: Geneva, Switzerland, 2011.

Whey, Egg & Mixed Proteins - Effects on Muscle, Fat Cells and the Hypothalamus Suggest 70% Whey + 30% Egg May be Best for People Striving for Leanness & Muscularity

Dairy or eggs? Why not just dairy and eggs - Protein mix exerts most promising effects on signalling proteins related to increased muscle mass and fat loss, analysis of the results of a study shows.

You will probably remember that the acute rate of muscle protein synthesis is not a valid proxy of the gains you can expect from a certain way of training or a specific type of supplement (Mitchell. 2015). Against that background you may very well ask yourselves why I am elaborating on the results of the latest study from the School of Kinesiology, Molecular and Applied Sciences Laboratory and the Auburn University which examined the acute effects of different dietary protein sources on skeletal muscle.

Well, despite the fact that this is a rodent study and irrespective of the questionable link between acute markers of protein synthesis and long-term gains, this is imho the first study to compare the effects whey and egg proteins have on skeletal muscle, adipose tissue and hypothalamic satiety-related markers at the same time.

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To do so, Mobley et al. gave their lab rats (a) whey protein concentrate (WPC, n = 15), (b) hydrolyzed whey-to-hydrolyzed egg albumin at a ratio of 70:30 (70 W/30E, n = 15), the same mix at a ratio of (c) 50/50 and (d) 30/70 or (e) 1 ml of water with no protein as a fasting control.

Figure 1: Expression of protein synthesis and selected signalling proteins in skeletal muscle (PGC-1a, AMPK) and brain (POMC) in response to the different protein supplements (Mobley, 2015).

The detailed analysis of the protein signalling response revealed that that compared to CTL: (1) phosphorylated (p) markers of mTOR signaling [p-mTOR (Ser2481) and p-rps6 (Ser235/236)] were elevated 2–4-fold in all protein groups 90 min post-treatment (p < 0.05). Moreover,

• WPC and 70 W/30E increased muscle protein synthesis (MPS) 104% and 74% 180 min post-treatment, respectively (p < 0.05), and 
• 70 W/30E increased p-AMPKα (Thr172) 90 and 180-min post-treatment as well as PGC-1α mRNA 90 min post-treatment. 

A closer analysis of the protein responses in the subcutaneous (SQ) and omental fat (OMAT) depots of the rodents showed that

• 70 W/30 W increased SQ fat phosphorylated hormone-sensitive lipase [p-HSL (Ser563)] 3.1-fold versus CTL and a 1.9–4.4-fold change versus all other test proteins 180 min post-treatment (p < 0.05); and 
• WPC, 70 W/30E and 50 W/50E increased OMAT p-HSL 3.8–6.5-fold 180 min post-treatment versus CTL (p < 0.05). 

Lastly, the 70 W/30E and 30 W/70E increased hypothalamic POMC mRNA 90 min post-treatment versus CTL, an effect that suggests that an increased satiety response may have occurred in the former groups. An effect that was not counter by a compensatory increase in orexigenic (=appetite increasing) AGRP mRNA in the 70 W/30E group 90 min post-treatment versus and compensated by increases in orexigenic NPY mRNA in the 30 W/70E group 90 min post-treatment.

Why egg? Widespread interest has also surrounded the positive health benefits of dietary egg protein due to its high es sential amino acid (EAA) content and high digestibility (Buford. 2007). Similar to whey protein, egg protein feeding in rats has been found to significantly increase postprandial MPS (Norton. 2012). Likewise, one report suggests that bioactives isolated from egg protein down-regulate serum myostatin (MSTN | Colker. 2009 | this effect was not observed in the study at hand(!)); an effect which may enhance skeletal muscle hypertrophy with chronic supplementation. However, unlike the aforementioned whey protein re search, there is a paucity of data regarding the physio logical effects of dietary egg protein on other tissues (i.e., adipose tissue and the hypothalamus).

Practically speaking, the data would suggest that (1) the pure whey protein supplement had the most pronounced pro-anabolic effects on the muscle, while (2) the egg protein supplements had hardly any effect (this is different to studies, where egg supplements were given after workouts). (3) as far as the oxidative prowess of the muscles is concerned, the mix of whey + egg protein (70:30) was yet the only protein supplement to elicit significant changes in the "fat burning" protein AMPK and the mitochondrial builder PGC-1a.

Similarly, (4) with respect to the effects on the adipose tissue, the protein mix containing whey and egg protein at a ratio of 70:30 showed superior effects on the libid mobilizer HSL in both subcutaneous and omental fat depots, while (5) the 50:50 mix affected the release of fat from the adipocytes only in the belly (omental) fat. If we also take into account that (6) only the 70:30 mix increased the level of satiety related proteins in the brain without corresponding increases in satiety triggering hormones, the results of the study at hand would suggest that the pure whey protein may have the pro-anabolic edge, the addition of egg protein, however, appears to make the mix more suitable for body recomposition goals, because it will simultaneously increase the level of key proteins that could trigger an increase in fat oxidation and a decrease in energy intake. What reamains to be seen, though, is whether these effects translate into corresponding changes in body composition in longer-term human studies with an exercise component, though | Comment on Facebook!

References:

• Buford, Thomas W., et al. "Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition." Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 4.6 (2007): 6.
• Colker, C. "Effect on serum myostatin levels of high-grade handled fertile egg yolk powder" (Conference abstract). J Am Coll Nutr. 28.3 (2009).
• Mitchell, Cameron J., et al. "Last Word on Viewpoint: What is the relationship between the acute muscle protein synthetic response and changes in muscle mass?." Journal of Applied Physiology 118.4 (2015): 503-503.
• Mobley, Christopher Brooks, et al. "Effects of protein type and composition on postprandial markers of skeletal muscle anabolism, adipose tissue lipolysis, and hypothalamic gene expression." Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 12.1 (2015): 14.
• Norton, Layne E., et al. "Leucine content of dietary proteins is a determinant of postprandial skeletal muscle protein synthesis in adult rats." Cellulose (Fiber) 53.53.7 (2012): 53-7.

18% Increased Protein Breakdown W/ 20g of Egg Protein Before Workout - Reason Enough for Avoiding Pre-Workout Protein Supps? Rational & Experimental Counter-Evidence

Protein before workouts "accelerates protein catabolism"? That sounds worse than it actually is (photo BSN).

Most of you will probably consume a protein shake after their workout. Probably whey, if you've read all SuppVersity articles, maybe 25g whey + 10g casein (learn why), or something like that. But what do you do before your workouts? Do you consume a protein shake 60-90 minutes before your workout? If so, you will be shocked about the conclusion of a recent study from the Tokyo University of Agriculture which says: "[...]  pre-exercise protein supplementation taken in excess may accelerate protein catabolism" (Hasegawa. 2014).

But is it actually possible that consuming more protein (albeit at the wrong time) will have a negative impact on your gains?

You can learn more about protein intake at the SuppVersity

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Before we can answer this important question it is necessary to take a look at the actual design of the randomized cross-over study.

Figure 1: Graphical overview of the experimental protocol (Hasegawa. 2014)

The participants, six healthy male university students [21.2 (±0.3) years, 173.6 (±2.8) cm, and 62.7 (±2.8)kg] with no allergies to egg white or soy, the two protein sources the effects of which the researchers initially wanted to compare, underwent three 8-day testing periods with an exercise at the end (the 8-day intervals were separated by at least seven days).

"Each  testing period began on Day-1 and ended the meat-free diet  consisting of grains, beans, and milk, and 24- hour urine sample collection on Day-8 (Figure 1). Participants were allocated into  one of three groups; egg white protein (E), soy protein (S), and mineral water control (C) group with no additive, and all were carried out this study protocol three times, and asked not to change their lifestyle behaviors." (Hasegawa. 2014). 

The result of this study should remind you of the "Protein-Wheysting" Article | more is not always better!

On Day-5, the day of the workout, the  participants arrived at the  laboratory at 8:00 AM, and had a breakfast consisting of a rice ball (energy, 355 kcal; protein, 6.7 g; carbohydrate, 78.1 g). At 9:30 AM, after the baseline blood sample collection and perceived muscle soreness (MS) measurements, the subjects received one of the three test beverages which contained

• 20 g of egg protein,
• 20g of soy protein, or
• an isoenergetic placebo without protein

that had been dissolved in 200ml of mineral water. 90 minutes later, at 11:00 AM, the previously untrained participants started a resistance training protocol that involved seated rows, flys, leg extensions, and leg presses.

The exercises were performed for three sets of 10 repetitions at ~80% of a predetermined 1-RM with one min rest between sets and two minutes between each exercise.

Figure 2: no significant difference in perceived fatique, but a significant reduction in peak muscle soreness in the soy (grey blocks) vs. the control (white triangles) group (Hasegawa. 2014).

As you can see in Figure 2, the initially mentioned negative effects of the protein supplement were not the only significant inter-trial differences the scientists observed; and what's more, the significantly decreased muscle soreness in response to both protein powders (the peak levels differed statistically significantly only for control vs. soy) stands in stark contrast the mainstream interpretation of protein breakdown (which is "protein breakdown = muscle loss").

How is that possible? Increased protein breakdown and reduced muscle soreness?

So, here we are with an obvious contradiction between the reduced muscle soreness (Figure 2) and the scientists claim that "pre-exercise protein supplementation taken in excess may accelerate protein catabolism" (Hasegawa. 2014)... you already guessed it: The contradiction depends on the false assumption that "protein catabolism" means "catabolism of muscle protein", which is not generally the case and in this specific case certainly wrong.

Figure 3: Urinary nitrogen excretion measured for 72h after the workout (Hasegawa. 2014)

The process we are talking about here is thus most likely not an increase in "mucle catabolism" but rather about the absence of a reduction in protein wasting, i.e a "protein sparing" mechanism that won't be triggered if there is plenty of protein around during the workout.

"So you're saying we don't have to worry?" Basically this is the message of today's SuppVersity article, yes. The notion that the increased amount of nitrogen the scientists measured in their subjects urine is the end product of muscle protein breakdown is highly questionable. It's more likely that the provision of extra protein makes the initiation of protein sparing mechanisms which would otherwise reduce the nitrogen excretion in the control group superfluous - I mean, look at Figure 3 again: Compared to Day 4 (i.e. baseline before workout), the levels remain stable in both protein supplementation groups.

If your pre-workout protein makes you hypo, stop using it or buffer the drop in blood sugar w/ CHO | learn why

You still have doubts!? Well, I have evidence to support my conclusion. Wycherley et al. (2010), for example, were able to show that their dieting subjects saw the same improvements in body composition no matter whether they consumed their protein + carbohydrate beverage (likewise 20g of protein) before or after their resistance training workouts. Rasmussen et al. (2000) report significant increases in muscle protein anabolism after resistance training with pre-workout EAA supplementation. And a protein + carbohydrate supplement reduced (not increased) the muscle damage (as evidenced by 33% reduced increase in myoglobin) in some, but not all subjects in a resistance training study by Baty et al. (7 free weight ex; 3 sets x8 reps to failure | Baty. 2007).

All in all, it does therefore not appear to be indicated to change your current supplementation practice (if you are consuming protein before your workouts)... well, unless you feel wiped out, whenever you consume protein before your workout. In that case, the protein induced increase in insulin is probably sending you right down the hypoglycemia alley. In view of given negative effects on your exercise performance and the touted increases in obesity risk, this is something you should try to avoid by either buffering the insulin spike with carbs or simply avoiding the ingestion of fast digesting protein supplements before your workouts | Comment on Facebook!

References:

• Baty, Jacob J., et al. "The effect of a carbohydrate and protein supplement on resistance exercise performance, hormonal response, and muscle damage." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 21.2 (2007): 321-329.
• Hasegawa, Yuko, et al. "Effect of Egg White Protein Supplementation Prior to Acute Resistance Training on Muscle Damage Indices in Untrained Japanese Men." Monten. J. Sports Sci. Med. 3 (2014) 2: 5–12.
• Rasmussen, Blake B., et al. "An oral essential amino acid-carbohydrate supplement enhances muscle protein anabolism after resistance exercise." Journal of Applied Physiology 88.2 (2000): 386-392.
• Wycherley, Thomas Philip, et al. "Timing of protein ingestion relative to resistance exercise training does not influence body composition, energy expenditure, glycaemic control or cardiometabolic risk factors in a hypocaloric, high protein diet in patients with type 2 diabetes." Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism 12.12 (2010): 1097-1105.