Table 3. Human and animal studies assessing the effect of eggs consumption on the composition of the gut microbiota.
| Citation | Study design | Intervention | Trial duration | Participants | Effect on the gut microbiota | Other health or physiological observations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas et al. (2022) | Randomized, controlled cross-over | 3 eggs/d (4 wk) choline bitartrate (CB) supplement/d (4 wk) | 13 wk | 23 Men and women classified with metabolic syndrome (MetS) (35–70 yr old) | Phylum Firmicutes/
Bacteroidetes - Shannon - |
Not applicable (NA) |
| Liu et al. (2022a) | Prospective nonrandomized | 2 eggs/d (90–100 g, 460–500 mg cholesterol) | 2 wk | 9 Healthy males [29±1 yr old, body mass index (BMI) 22±1 kg/m2] | Phylum Firmicutes/
Bacteroidetes - Shannon - Simpson - Chao1 - |
NA |
| Zhu et al. (2020) | Randomized, cross-over | 2 whole eggs (100 g)/d (4 wk) yolk-free eggs (100 g)/d (4 wk) | 12 wk | 20 Overweight/obese postmenopausal women [57.7 (±5.64) yr old, average BMI of 28.34 (±2.96)] | Genus Prevotella - Anaeroplasma - Clostridium - Peptostreptococcaceae - | NA |
| Citation | Control treatment | Experimental treatment | Feeding duration | Body weight | Animal model | Effect on the gut microbiota |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avirineni et al. (2022) | Control diet (CON; 4.63 kcal/g) | Egg albumen+cellulose (EC; 4.38 kcal/g) Egg albumen+inulin (EI; 4.63 kcal/g) Whey protein isolate+cellulose (WC; 4.38 kcal/g) Whey protein isolate+inulin (WI; 4.63 kcal/g) | 9 wk | 442.2±28 g | 40 Male obesity-prone Sprague-Dawley rats (3 wk old) | NA |
| Ge et al. (2021) | Dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) | DSS+egg white peptide (50 mg) DSS+egg white peptide (100 mg) DSS+egg white peptide (200 mg) | 2 wk | 20.00±2 g | Male BALB/c mice (SPF level) | Phylum
Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes
↑ Genus Lactobacillus ↑ no rank_f_Ruminococcaceae ↓ Ruminiclostridium ↓ Candidatus_Saccharimonas ↑ |
| Zhang et al. (2020) | Distilled water | Egg ovotransferrin (OVT) (≈400 mg) | 3 wk control, 3 wk OVT, 8 wk control, and 8 wk OVT | NA | Male C57BL/6J mice (young: 3 wk old) (adult: 8 wk old) | Phylum
Actinobacteria ↓ (Young)
Actinobacteria ↑ (Adult)
Proteobacteria ↑ (Young) TM7
↓ (Adult) Genus Akkermansia ↑ (Young, Adult) Shannon - (Young, Adult) |
| Requena et al. (2017) | Tap water | Egg white hydrolyzed with pepsin | 12 wk | 250–275 g [Zucker fatty
(fa/fa) rats] 150–175 g [Zucker lean (+/+) rats] |
20 Male Zucker fatty (fa/fa) rats (8
wk old) 10 Male Zucker lean (+/+) rats (8 wk old) |
Phylum Bacteroides
↓ Genus Lactobacillus / Enterococcus ↓ Bifidobacterium ↓ Species Clostridium leptum ↓ |
| Yu et al. (2020) | Casein | Hen egg white (‘HEW’ group); duck egg white (‘DEW’ group); preserved egg white (‘PEW’ group) | 8 wk | (117 g±10 g) | 40 Male Sprague–Dawley rats | Phylum
Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes -
Proteobacteria (DEW ↑)
Verrucomicrobia (HEW
↑) Family Peptostreptococcaceae, Moraxellase (DEW ↑) Lactobacillaceae, Lachnospiraceae (DEW ↓) Genus Akkermansia (HEW ↑) Shannon (HEW ↑) Simpson (HEW ↑) Ace (PEW ↓) Chao 1 (PEW ↓) |
| Meng et al. (2020) | Fresh duck eggs | Preserved duck eggs | 8 wk | 110–130 g | 24 Male Sprague–Dawley rats | Phylum Firmicutes -
Bacteroidetes -
Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes
↓ Proteobacteria - Genus Ruminococcaceae UCG-005 ↓ Allobaculum ↓ Christensenellaceae R-7 group ↓ unclassified Clostridiales ↓ Eubacterium ruminantium group ↑ Eubacterium xylanophilum group ↑ Ruminococcaceae UCG-009 ↑ Eubacterium ventriosum ↑ Tyzzerella ↑ Shannon ↑ Simpson ↓ |
| Fukunaga et al. (2020) | Casein-beef tallow-based diet | Casein-egg yolk-based diet | 14 d | 35.0±0.4 g 35.1±0.6 g | 16 Male Kwl:ddY mice 5 wk old | Phylum Firmicutes
↓ Epsilonbacteraeota
↓ Family Lachnospiraceae ↓ Ruminococcaceae ↓ Erysipelotrichaceae ↑ Genus Parasutterella ↑ coprostanoligenes ↑ Operational taxanomic unit (OTU) ↓ Shannon ↓ Simpson - |