How eggs can help you lose weight

If you're counting calories and thinking about what would make a better breakfast, assuming equal calories for both: a 3.5-inch bagel with 1-ounce cream cheese and 3-ounces light nonfat yogurt or two jumbo eggs (scrambled) and two toast slices with reduced-calorie jam; which do you believe would help you lose weight faster?

At first, that bagel would seem to be the answer. Sure it contains a lot of carbohydrate, but it's also virtually fat free (less than 1 gram), where those egg yolks definitely have fat (6.5 grams per jumbo yolk, or 58 of the egg's 96 calories).

A study (funded by The American Egg Board) in a recenet issue of the International Journal of Obesity reveals that the counterintuitive choice, eggs, would be the far better breakfast choice for those on a a calorie-restricted food plan.

Surprising.

The study compared participants on a calorie-restricted food plan that included that egg breakfast to those following a calorie-restricted food plan that included the bagel breakfast with those with no calorie restrictions having either breakfast option.

The differences between the two breakfasts with calorie restriction were stunning: study participants, on average, lost 65 percent more weight on the egg breakfast (when consumed five out of seven days for eight weeks) than those eating the bagel breakfast. In addition, the egg breakfast caused a 34 percent greater reduction in waist circumference and a 16 percent greater reduction in body fat.

For years there has been concern that a food plan that included two eggs each day would increase total cholesterol and triglyceride (blood fat) levels. This study showed no difference in any of those factors between eating an egg breakfast or a bagel breakfast.

To apply what this study indicates, means being on a calorie-restricted food plan and consuming the egg breakfast exactly as described; no fudging.

Consider this intriguing bit: although exactly equal in calories to the egg breakfast contained more carbohydrates (46.2 vs. 31 grams); less fat (11 vs. 14.2 grams); and less protein (12.6 vs. 16.6 grams); proving how different nutritional components and still be equal in calories.

The bagel breakfast, that didn't generate the weight loss of the egg breakfast fit perfectly into current dietetic guidelines getting 29.2 percent of calories from fat, while the egg breakfast got 37.5 percent.

One more intriguing discovery: study participants consuming the bagel breakfast without the calorie restriction food plan dropped out of the study at a significantly higher rate than all three of the other food plans (5:1).

The egg breakfast as part of a calorie-restricted plan also aided the participants in dietary restraint for the remainder of the day, though researchers can't say why that was.

Think this is a good idea, but are pressed for time in the morning? Consider making scrambled eggs or two fried (cooked in a nonstick skillet with a whisper of oil to aid release) eggs, and then sandwich those between two pieces of whole-wheat, high fiber toast as an easy-to-eat egg sandwich.

Anything that naturally helps to lose weight and keep hunger at bay is a good idea.

Here's how I scramble eggs without butter that taste and look decadent but are as lean as one can make them and then turn them into a quick breakfast sandwich.

• Don Mauer appears Wednesdays in Food. He welcomes questions, shared recipes and makeover requests for your favorite dishes. Address them to Don Mauer, Daily Herald Food section, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006 or don@theleanwizard.com.