Eggs are a breakfast staple in many homes: boiled, fried, scrambled, in an omelet, in fried rice or in a breakfast sandwich. After a diabetes diagnosis, people often hear two different things about them. One is that eggs are fine because they have hardly any carbs. The other is that eggs are a worry for your heart.

Both ideas have something behind them. This article looks at each, and explains why researchers have not settled the heart question.

An egg carries almost no carbohydrate

Here is one boiled or poached egg, and one egg scrambled with oil, as USDA FoodData Central measures them:

The carbohydrate line on both cards is close to zero. On its own, an egg adds very little to the carbohydrate in a meal. Eggs do carry protein and fat; the rows on each food page show them.

What comes with the egg is a different story

Eggs are rarely eaten alone. Toast, a bagel, rice, tortillas, potatoes or a biscuit often come with them. Here is one slice of white toast, and an egg sandwich on a bagel:

Compare these with the egg cards above. Almost all of the carbohydrate in an egg breakfast comes from what is served with it. For carb counting, the bread, rice or bagel is what you count. For more on those foods, see Bread and diabetes, Rice and diabetes and Oatmeal and diabetes. If carb counting is new to you, start with What is a carb choice?

Eggs and the heart: why people with diabetes are told to be careful

NIDDK notes that diabetes increases the risk of heart attack and stroke. Eggs carry dietary cholesterol, and, as the DIABEGG researchers point out, some countries' guidelines have advised people with type 2 diabetes to limit eggs and cholesterol. The research behind that advice is mixed.

Studies that raised a concern. Shin and colleagues (2013) pooled long-term observational studies. In the general population, eating an egg a day or more was not linked with heart disease. But among people who already had diabetes, eating the most eggs was linked with a higher risk of heart disease. These were observational studies, which show a link, not cause and effect.

Trials that did not find harm. The DIABEGG trials in Australia, by Fuller and colleagues, tested a high-egg diet against a low-egg diet in adults with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. In the first three months (2015), the high-egg group, eating two eggs a day six days a week, showed no difference in cholesterol or blood glucose control. In the follow-up to twelve months (2018), there were still no differences in glucose, blood fats or markers of inflammation. Both diets in these trials were planned by the researchers and leaned toward unsaturated fats, so the results describe that kind of diet. The trials measured risk markers, not heart attacks or strokes.

Large reviews. Drouin-Chartier and colleagues (2020) followed over 200,000 US nurses and health professionals and found that up to one egg a day was not linked with heart disease overall. But they left out people who already had diabetes at the start, so their result does not answer the question for people with diabetes. A 2025 review of reviews by Formisano and colleagues found no link between eating more or fewer eggs and most heart outcomes, a weak signal for heart failure, and rated the overall quality of the evidence as critically low.

So, is the question settled?

No. The observational evidence for people with diabetes points to a possible risk. The trials, which are shorter and measure risk markers rather than heart attacks, did not find harm. The largest single study that found no link left out people with diabetes, and the reviews rate the evidence as weak.

The American Diabetes Association's Standards of Care say people with diabetes can follow the same guidance as the general population on saturated fat and cholesterol, and recommend limiting foods high in saturated fat to help reduce heart disease risk.

Foods often cooked or served with eggs, such as butter, bacon, sausage or cheese, have saturated fat of their own, which the rows on their food pages show. How eggs are cooked and what comes with them is part of the same picture.

If you change your breakfast

As the cards show, a breakfast with more egg and less bread or rice carries less carbohydrate. If you take insulin or a medicine that can cause low blood glucose, a breakfast with less carbohydrate may mean your usual dose is too much. Talk with your diabetes team before making that kind of change. The Today page adds up what you log, so you can see what your usual breakfast adds to the day.

Your numbers are yours

Whether eggs fit your plan, and how many, depends on your heart risk, your cholesterol, your medicines and your goals. Your doctor, diabetes educator or dietitian knows those numbers, and their advice comes before anything you read here. If eggs are a regular part of your meals, ask them what they suggest for you.

Sources

  • Shin JY, Xun P, Nakamura Y, et al. Egg consumption in relation to risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2013; 98(1): 146–159. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23676423 (checked 8 October 2026)
  • Fuller NR, Caterson ID, Sainsbury A, et al. The effect of a high-egg diet on cardiovascular risk factors in people with type 2 diabetes: the Diabetes and Egg (DIABEGG) study—a 3-mo randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2015; 101(4): 705–713. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25833969 (checked 8 October 2026)
  • Fuller NR, Sainsbury A, Caterson ID, et al. Effect of a high-egg diet on cardiometabolic risk factors in people with type 2 diabetes: the Diabetes and Egg (DIABEGG) Study—randomized weight-loss and follow-up phase. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2018; 107(6): 921–931. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29741558 (checked 8 October 2026)
  • Drouin-Chartier JP, Chen S, Li Y, et al. Egg consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease: three large prospective US cohort studies, systematic review, and updated meta-analysis. BMJ, 2020; 368: m513. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32132002 (checked 8 October 2026)
  • Formisano E, Lopes Neri LC, Caffa I, et al. Effect of egg consumption on health outcomes: An updated umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analysis of observational and intervention studies. Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, 2025; 35(5): 103849. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39934049 (checked 8 October 2026)
  • American Diabetes Association Professional Practice Committee. 5. Facilitating Positive Health Behaviors and Well-being to Improve Health Outcomes: Standards of Care in Diabetes—2026. Diabetes Care, 2026; 49(Suppl 1): S89–S131 (Fats section and recommendation 5.31). pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12690188 (checked 8 October 2026)
  • NIDDK. Healthy Living with Diabetes (last reviewed October 2023). niddk.nih.gov (checked 8 October 2026)
  • USDA FoodData Central: Egg, whole, boiled or poached (FNDDS 2707154); Egg omelet or scrambled egg, made with oil (FNDDS 2707200); Bread, white, toasted (FNDDS 2707599); Egg sandwich on bagel (FNDDS 2707328). fdc.nal.usda.gov (checked 8 October 2026)
  • Food figures on this page: USDA FoodData Central, via the DiabeticIndex food database.

This article is general information, not medical advice. Talk to your diabetes care team before changing how you eat or how you take your medicines.