Can Eggs Give You Belly Fat?

Eggs are a popular choice for breakfast, and this inexpensive, abundant food can be a healthy way to start your day. Although eggs derive a significant portion of their calories from fat -- about 40 percent -- they aren't likely to give you belly fat, unless the rest of your diet is poorly designed. In fact, some nutritional characteristics of eggs may make them less likely to give you belly fat than other foods.

Low in Calories

Eggs are unlikely to give you belly fat because they're low in calories. To gain fat, you need to be in a calorie surplus, or consume more calories than your body needs to fuel metabolic functions and your daily activities. One egg contains just 72 calories, or 3.5 percent of the daily recommended intake of 2,000. Eggs are lower in calories than many other breakfast choices; a 71-gram bagel contains 270 calories. In fact, if you switched from eating a bagel to eating two eggs each morning, you'd save 882 calories weekly, enough to lose a quarter of a pound of fat.

Protein

Eggs are also rich in protein, as one egg provides more than 6 g of this nutrient. Protein is vital for building and maintaining muscle and the other tissues of your body. In addition, the inclusion of protein makes eggs less likely to give you belly fat than other foods. As research from the May 2008 edition of "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" indicates, increased consumption of protein may be helpful for limiting body fat because it causes increases in thermogenesis, or calorie-burning, and satiety, or feelings of fullness, compared to other nutrients.

Low in Carbohydrates

Eggs provide minimal carbohydrates -- one large egg contains less than 0.5 g of this nutrient. While carbohydrates do offer benefits, the lack of carbohydrates in eggs may make them better suited to helping you avoid belly fat. A study published in the March 2010 edition of "Nutrition & Metabolism" found that a low-carbohydrate diet accelerated fat and weight loss.

Vitamin D

In addition to being rich in protein, eggs offer several other important nutrients. Eggs are rich in vitamin D, a nutrient not naturally found in many foods. This nutrient may help you avoid gaining belly fat, as research published in the August 2008 edition of "The British Journal of Nutrition" found that increased intake of this vitamin was associated with reduced body fat.

References

• USDA National Nutrient Database: Egg, Whole, Raw, Fresh
• LIVESTRONG.COM MyPlate: Calories in Bagel, Plain
• PubMed Health; Tips For Losing Weight; October 2009
• "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Protein, Weight Management, and Satiety; D. Paddon-Jones et al.; May 2008
• "Nutrition & Metabolism"; Increased Ratio of Dietary Carbohydrate to Protein Shifts the Focus of Metabolic Signaling from Skeletal Muscle to Adipose; S. Devkota, D.K. Layman; March 2011
• "The British Journal of Nutrition"; Preliminary Data about the Influence of Vitamin D Status on the Loss of Body Fat in Young Overweight/Obese Women Following Two Types of Hypocaloric Diet; R.M. Ortega et al.; August 2008