Do eggs cause inflammation?

Not by the measures trials use. A 2019 meta-analysis of 9 randomized trials found eating eggs did not change hs-CRP, IL-6 or TNF-alpha, the standard blood markers of inflammation, compared with control diets. The change in hs-CRP was 0.24 mg/L, with a 95% confidence interval from -0.43 to 0.90 that sits across zero. A 12-month trial in 128 people with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes eating 12 or more eggs a week found the same.

Established. In randomized trials in adults, including people with type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, eating eggs did not raise blood markers of inflammation. The trials lasted from a few weeks to 12 months, and the longest gave 12 or more eggs a week.

What the trials found

The 2019 meta-analysis pooled 9 randomized trials in adults. Besides hs-CRP, IL-6 changed by 0.20 pg/mL (95% CI -0.71 to 1.11) and TNF-alpha by -0.38 pg/mL (-0.87 to 0.10). None of the three reached significance. The trials were few, and the results for CRP and IL-6 varied more between trials than chance alone would explain.

A 2025 meta-analysis of whole eggs pooled 3 trials that measured C-reactive protein over 4 weeks or less. CRP did not change (p = 0.45). The pooled estimate leaned slightly downward, a standardized difference of -0.24 (95% CI -0.85 to 0.38). One trial in 28 overweight men pulled the result that way, and without it the other two trials agreed closely and showed nothing (p = 0.81). All three trials had moderate risk of bias. The same review found eggs raised plasma choline.

The people most often told to worry about inflammation are those with diabetes, and they have been tested. A systematic review of 6 randomized trials in people with or at risk of type 2 diabetes found 6 to 12 eggs a week did not change C-reactive protein, blood lipids, glucose or insulin. The review did not pool the trials into one number. In the 12-month DIABEGG trial, 128 people with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes ate 12 or more eggs a week or fewer than 2, inside a weight-loss diet that swapped saturated for unsaturated fat. There was no difference between groups in hs-CRP, IL-6 or E-selectin.

Two small crossover trials went further in one direction and not the other. In 29 adults with type 2 diabetes, one egg a day for 5 weeks lowered TNF-alpha compared with an oatmeal breakfast, a result that appeared only after adjusting for sex, age and BMI, with no change in CRP. In 24 adults with metabolic syndrome on a plant-based diet, 2 whole eggs a day for 4 weeks left TNF-alpha, IL-6 and CRP no different from an egg substitute.

Myth. The idea that eggs fuel inflammation in the body has been tested in randomized trials and did not hold up on blood markers. Blood markers are what these trials measured, and this answer is about them.

Who should be careful

Eggs do cause one kind of inflammation, and that is allergy. In pooled European studies, 2.5% of people reported being allergic to egg at some point in life, while allergy confirmed by a supervised food challenge was 0.2% (95% CI 0.2 to 0.3). Egg allergy is most common in young children. The pooled studies varied a lot, and some had low participation.

For babies, timing matters. A 2024 meta-analysis found that introducing egg by 6 months of age, against later, lowered the odds of food allergy in preschool children, with an odds ratio of 0.65 (95% CI 0.53 to 0.81). The abstract mixes randomized and observational studies and gives no absolute percentages. Early egg did not change asthma or eczema.

Not for everyone. Anyone with a diagnosed egg allergy should keep to the plan their doctor gave them. Nothing on this page about inflammation markers changes that. The 2024 meta-analysis is not a feeding plan: it says nothing about babies who already have severe eczema or a food allergy, and we did not review an allergy guideline for them.

What expert bodies say

We found no position from NIH, EFSA, WHO or the American Heart Association on eggs and inflammation. We did not bring an allergy guideline onto this page, so the infant advice above rests on the 2024 meta-analysis alone.

How we searched

What would change this answer

• Larger and longer randomized trials in people who start with high inflammation, measuring symptoms as well as blood markers.
• Egg-specific results from the network meta-analyses of food groups, which measured CRP but do not report eggs separately in their abstracts.

Nutrition facts and the cholesterol evidence for eggs are on the eggs page.

Sources

1. ev-eginf-01 · Meta-analysis or systematic review · systematic review and random-effects meta-analysis of RCTs · n = 9 trials
   Egg consumption did not affect hs-CRP (WMD 0.24 mg/L; 95% CI: -0.43, 0.90; I2 = 53.8; P = 0.48), IL-6 (WMD 0.20 pg/mL; 95% CI: -0.71, 1.11; I2 = 69.3; P = 0.50), and TNF-α (WMD: -0.38 pg/mL; 95% CI: -0.87, 0.10; I2 = 0.00; P = 0.12) relative to controls.
   
   Who: adults in clinical trials of egg consumption measuring circulating inflammatory biomarkers
   Effect: hs-CRP WMD +0.24 mg/L (95% CI -0.43 to 0.90), I2 53.8%; IL-6 +0.20 pg/mL (-0.71 to 1.11); TNF-alpha -0.38 pg/mL (-0.87 to 0.10)
   Certainty: Small number of trials, moderate heterogeneity for CRP and IL-6; egg doses and comparators varied.
   Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 2019 (Sajadi Hezaveh et al., Effect of egg consumption on inflammatory markers) · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
2. ev-eginf-02 · Meta-analysis or systematic review · systematic review and random-effects meta-analysis · n = 3 RCTs
   Meta-analyses indicated that egg consumption did not impact plasma TMAO (n = 6, p = 0.22) or CRP (n = 3, p = 0.45) concentrations but did increase plasma choline (n = 5, p < 0.001) in the short term (≤4 weeks).
   
   Who: healthy adults in studies of whole egg consumption; CRP pooled from 3 RCTs
   Effect: CRP not changed (p = 0.45); TMAO not changed (6 studies, p = 0.22); plasma choline increased (5 studies, p < 0.001)
   Certainty: Only 3 trials for CRP; short term (4 weeks or less).
   Nutrients, 2025 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
3. ev-eginf-03 · Meta-analysis or systematic review · random-effects meta-analysis of RCTs with sensitivity analysis · n = 3 RCTs
   Random effects meta-analysis results for three studies (Figure 5) were insignificant for circulating CRP concentrations following egg consumption (SMD: −0.24; 95% CI: −0.85, 0.38; I2 = 78%, p = 0.45).
   
   Who: 3 RCTs of whole eggs; one in 28 overweight men, two in healthy young adults
   Effect: CRP SMD -0.24 (95% CI -0.85 to 0.38), I2 78%, p = 0.45; heterogeneity driven by one trial in overweight men; without it I2 0% and p = 0.81
   Certainty: Moderate risk of bias in all three RCTs.
   Nutrients, 2025 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the fulltext
4. ev-eginf-04 · Meta-analysis or systematic review · systematic review of randomized nutritional intervention studies (no pooling) · n = 6 trials (10 articles)
   Consumption of 6 to 12 eggs per week had no impact on plasma concentrations of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting glucose, insulin or C-reactive protein in all studies that reported these outcomes in comparison with control groups.
   
   Who: individuals with type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome
   Effect: 6 to 12 eggs per week: no impact on total cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides, glucose, insulin or CRP versus no-egg or low-egg diets
   Certainty: Narrative synthesis, no meta-analysis; heterogeneous designs.
   Can J Diabetes, 2017 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
5. ev-eginf-05 · Randomized controlled trial(s) · randomized controlled trial with outcomes from 0 to 12 months (DIABEGG) · n = 128
   There were no differences between groups in glycemia (plasma glucose, glycated hemoglobin, 1,5-anhydroglucitol), traditional serum lipids, markers of inflammation (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, interleukin 6, soluble E-selectin), oxidative stress (F2-isoprostanes), or adiponectin from 3 to 12 mo or from 0 to 12 mo.
   
   Who: participants with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes on an energy-restricted, macronutrient-matched diet
   Effect: no between-group differences in hs-CRP, interleukin 6, soluble E-selectin or F2-isoprostanes from 0 to 12 months
   Certainty: Diet emphasized replacing saturated with unsaturated fats, so eggs were eaten in a healthy pattern.
   Am J Clin Nutr, 2018 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
6. ev-eginf-06 · Randomized controlled trial(s) · randomized crossover trial, 5-week periods with 3-week washout · n = 29
   However, after adjusting for gender, age and body mass index, aspartate amino-transferase (AST) (p < 0.05) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α (p < 0.01), one of our primary endpoints were significantly reduced during the egg period.
   
   Who: subjects aged 35 to 65 years with type 2 diabetes and HbA1c below 9%
   Effect: TNF-alpha and AST significantly lower in the egg period (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05, after adjustment); no difference in glucose, lipids or C-reactive protein
   Certainty: Small, single-blind; effect seen only after adjustment for sex, age and BMI.
   Nutrients, 2015 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
7. ev-eginf-07 · Randomized controlled trial(s) · randomized crossover trial, 4-week periods with 3-week washout · n = 24
   Tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-6, monocyte protein attractant-1, liver enzymes, and C-reactive protein, as well as total antioxidant capacity, paraoxonase-1 (PON-1) activity, and other biomarkers of oxidation were not different at the end of EGG or SUB or when compared to baseline.
   
   Who: men and women with metabolic syndrome following a plant-based diet
   Effect: TNF-alpha, IL-6, MCP-1, liver enzymes and CRP not different between egg and substitute; malondialdehyde lower with eggs (p < 0.05)
   Certainty: Small sample and short 4-week periods.
   Nutrients, 2022 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
8. ev-eginf-08 · Observational data · systematic review and meta-analysis of prevalence studies · n = 42 studies
   Fifty studies were included in a narrative synthesis and 42 studies in the meta-analyses. … the overall pooled estimates for all age groups of self-reported lifetime prevalence of allergy to cow's milk, egg, wheat, soy, peanut, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish were 6.0% (95% confidence interval: 5.7-6.4), 2.5% (2.3-2.7) … The prevalence of food-challenge-defined allergy to cow's milk, egg, wheat, soy, peanut, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish was 0.6% (0.5-0.8), 0.2% (0.2-0.3), 0.1% (0.01-0.2), 0.3% (0.1-0.4), 0.2% (0.2-0.3), 0.5% (0.08-0.8), 0.1% (0.02-0.2), and 0.1% (0.06-0.3), respectively. Allergy to cow's milk and egg was more common among younger children … The heterogeneity between studies was high, and participation rates varied across studies reaching as low as <20% in some studies.
   
   Who: people of all ages in European studies published 2000 to 2012
   Effect: egg allergy: self-reported lifetime prevalence 2.5% (95% CI 2.3 to 2.7); food-challenge-defined 0.2% (0.2 to 0.3); more common in younger children
   Certainty: High heterogeneity and low participation in some studies; level C because the pooled studies are observational.
   Allergy, 2014 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
9. ev-eginf-09 · Observational data · systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized and observational studies, GRADE · n = —
   Compared with >6 mo, early introduction of eggs (≤6 mo of age) might reduce the risk of food allergies in preschoolers aged <6 y (odds ratio [OR], 0.65; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.53, 0.81), but had no effect on asthma or atopic dermatitis (AD).
   
   Who: children under 6 years, early (6 months or earlier) versus later egg introduction
   Effect: food allergy OR 0.65 (95% CI 0.53 to 0.81); no effect on asthma or atopic dermatitis
   Certainty: Abstract does not separate RCTs from cohorts for the egg comparison, so graded C; GRADE certainty not given in the abstract.
   Adv Nutr, 2024 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract