Study participants who ate two eggs for breakfast every day for two months lost 65% more weight than participants in the same study who ate a bagel for breakfast, even though the bagel and the eggs contained an equal number of calories. The egg-eaters also lost 61% more body mass and felt more energetic than the study participants eating bagel breakfasts.

Nikhil V. Dhurandhar, PhD, lead researcher for the breakfast-comparing study, says diets are hard for most people to stick to but the satisfaction of eating eggs for breakfast and the energy boost that comes from doing so may be enough to encourage many dieters to maintain the diet long enough to achieve optimum weight goals. The study participants eating two eggs a day for breakfast ate fewer calories at the next meal, providing evidence that the egg breakfast had appetite-suppressing properties that lasted well beyond breakfast. Dhurandhar is an associate professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center’s laboratory of infection and obesity, a part of the Louisiana State University system.

For more than 30 years, scientific research has repeatedly revealed the safety of eating eggs when no underlying heart conditions are evident. During the two-month Pennington study, the triglyceride, HDL, and LDL levels of study participants eating eggs remained relatively unchanged.

Eggs are an excellent source of inexpensive but high-quality protein that can be prepared quickly and in many versatile ways. The egg yolk, often shunned during weight-loss programs, is actually very healthful and nutritious. It contains almost half the egg’s protein and many other nutrients that promote improved vitality.

The International Journal of Obesity carries the full story of the Pennington study in its August 5 online issue.