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A comparison of hyperimmune egg protein and placebo for efficacy and safety among healthy young adults

Background

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was performed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of consuming an oral hyperimmune egg (HIE) protein supplement during a sample training program in healthy young adults.

Methods

Twenty-four recreationally active males (23.6 yrs, 176 cm, 69.2 kg and 17.1% body fat) were randomly assigned to either HIE (n = 12) or an egg protein placebo (PLA) group. Participants were supplemented with 4.5 g·d-1 for 2 d, 9 g·d-1 for 2 d and 13.5 g·d-1 for 6 d. HIE and PLA supplements were identical in appearance and taste before and after mixing with 237 mL of milk. Subjects recorded duration and severity of adverse events in a daily log.

Results

HIE and PLA had a 100% compliance with the study protocol. 17% (n = 2) of HIE and 25% (n = 3) of PLA reported experiencing at least one adverse event. HIE reported experiencing adverse events for a total of 10 d as compared to 24 d for PLA. In HIE one subject reported experiencing stomach ache and diarrhea for 3 d (severity of 2 on a 10 pt scale) and another subject reported a skin rash lasting 4 d (severity of 6 on a 10 pt scale). In PLA one subject reported experiencing stomach ache and vomiting for 3 d and increased thirst and feeling tired/sleepy for 3 d (severity of 7 and 8, respectively, on a 10 pt scale). Subjects reported a runny nose (n = 3) lasting 1–3 days (1–5 severity on a 10 pt scale) and a cough (n = 2) lasting 3 d (severity 1–5 on a 10 pt scale).

Conclusion

It was concluded that HIE ingestion was associated with fewer adverse events of similar or lesser severity than PLA. All adverse events experienced by the subjects were minimal and transitory in nature with none requiring medical intervention.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Legacy for Life, LLC, Melbourne, FL, for funding this research.

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Correspondence to Timothy Scheett.

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Open Access This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Scheett, T., Martin, T., Carr, B. et al. A comparison of hyperimmune egg protein and placebo for efficacy and safety among healthy young adults. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 6 (Suppl 1), P8 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1186/1550-2783-6-S1-P8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1550-2783-6-S1-P8

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