Eggs provide key nutrients to support a healthy body. A single egg has more than 6 grams of protein and almost 3 grams of healthy unsaturated fat. Eating eggs every day nourishes your body with choline to improve your mood, memory, and muscles. The antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin in eggs protect your eyes from age-related eye diseases. It’s no secret that eggs are high in cholesterol, but the American Heart Association says dietary cholesterol doesn’t necessarily lead to high cholesterol in your blood.
However, the cholesterol in eggs might not necessarily be good for your prostate. According to a 2011 article in Differentiation, your prostate can store cholesterol, and the prostate tissues are vulnerable if your cholesterol levels are out of balance. This could put you at greater risk for an enlarged prostate or aggressive prostate cancer. A 2011 study in Cancer Prevention Research found that men who ate 2.5 eggs per week had an 81% higher risk of developing lethal prostate cancer compared to those who limited their egg consumption to half an egg per week. However, researchers aren’t completely sure if it’s dietary cholesterol that’s totally to blame.
The choline in eggs might be contributing to prostate cancer
The 2011 article in Differentiation noted that taking cholesterol-lowering medications might help in reducing the size of the prostate as well as limiting the growth of prostate cancer cells. Researchers in the 2011 study in Cancer Prevention Research were puzzled as to why eggs in particular were associated with lethal prostate cancer while red and processed meat, which are both high in saturated fat and cholesterol, were not linked to lethal prostate cancer.
One of the contributors to the risk of prostate cancer might be the choline found in eggs, according to a 2012 study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Men who consumed the most choline had a 70% higher risk of developing lethal prostate cancer compared to those with a lower consumption of choline.
Because choline is an important nutrient, the Prostate Cancer Foundation says you don’t have to cut out eggs entirely from your diet. Instead, it suggests limiting your consumption of eggs to two a week. Most of the choline is found in the egg yolk, so you can substitute egg whites for eggs if you want to eat eggs more often.
Your diet and gut can affect your prostate health
A healthy diet can reduce your risk of many chronic conditions by giving you more energy and supporting your immune system. You’ll also support a healthy gut. Your risk of prostate cancer could be linked to the health of your gut, according to a 2024 meta-analysis in BMC Cancer. People with prostate cancer had lower diversity in their gut compared to healthy people. They also had different types of gut bacteria than the healthy group.The MD Anderson Cancer Center suggests adding whole grains, fermented foods, and yogurt to feed the good bacteria. You’ll want to stay away from sugar, processed foods, and alcohol because they can wreck the health of your gut.
If you have prostate cancer and eggs are a key protein source in your diet, you could turn to plant-based proteins to reduce the cancer’s progression. In a 2024 study in JAMA Network Open, men who followed a plant-based diet reduced their risk of cancer progressing by 47%. Men whose cancer was higher on the prostate cancer scale had a 55% lower risk of prostate cancer progression when they ate more plant-based foods.