October 15/Islamabad/Right Vision News -- An egg a day for breakfast probably will not increase the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a new study.

In the study, researchers failed to see a significant association between eating eggs occasionally or almost daily and the development of type 2 diabetes in nearly 4,000 older men and women, BBC radio reported.

While eggs are a key source of dietary cholesterol, they also contain a number of other potentially beneficial nutrients. To figure out the net effects of egg consumption as a whole food on type 2 diabetes risk, researchers looked at 3,898 Americans participating in the Cardiovascular Health Study. All were at least 65 years old when they enrolled in the study.

During follow-up, which averaged about 11 years, 313 people developed type 2 diabetes, which is closely linked to being overweight as well as poor diet and lack of exercise. No relationship was found between any amount of egg consumption and increased risk of type 2 diabetes. No link was found between dietary cholesterol overall and diabetes risk.

While men in the top category of egg consumption, those eating eggs almost daily, were at increased type 2 diabetes risk, this increase was not statistically significant, meaning it could have been due to chance.

Other studies that have linked eggs to diabetes have found an association with very high consumption, generally for eating seven or more eggs a week. On average, participants in this study ate less than one egg a day, so there may not have been enough people with very high egg intakes to establish whether this was harmful.

The current findings do not back any significant relationship between egg consumption and type 2 diabetes.

From the November 1, 2010, Prepared Foods E-dition