A fitness enthusiast has revealed how he slashed blood fats and boosted his muscle power with a stomach-churning diet of 30 eggs a day.
Joseph Everett, who lives in Tokyo, Japan, set out to eat 1,000 eggs over the course of a month, in an effort to test a bodybuilders’ claims that the diet is as effective for building muscle as using risky steroid injections.
Along with the bizarre eating routine — which involved egg white omlettes, smoothies and dinners of raw egg and rice — he embarked on a weightlifting-focused fitness regime, and recorded his progress in a video which has been watched 782,000 times on YouTube.
Before starting the experiment, Mr Everett measured his starting weight and his performance of four exercises — barbell lifts, a deadlift, squats and a bench press.
He also had blood tests completed before and after the month to measure other aspects of his health like testosterone production and cholesterol levels.
Intriguing images show that he gained a substantial 13lbs (6kg) of muscle mass from his starting weight of 78kg (about 12 stone), by the end of the experiment.
His fitness performance also improved, with him being able to lift up 20kg (44lbs) more than when he started.
Surprisingly, his blood work showed no notable increase in his levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol, but a jump in good cholesterol said to help remove the bad type from the blood.
What’s more, results also showed a drop in a dangerous type of fat in the blood called triglycerides, which is linked to a high risk of stroke and heart attacks.
Joseph Everett, who lives in Tokyo, Japan , was inspired to try the diet by claims that eating a huge amount of eggs per day was as effective as using mild steroids for putting on muscle
Going into the challenge, Mr Everett said wasn’t ‘a serious lifter’, but regularly lifted ‘some weights’ as part of his general keep-fit routine.
He supplemented his 30 eggs per day with a bowl of rice, a portion of beef, a small yogurt, some fruit and honey and occasionally a protein bar.
Mr Everett estimated this was equivalent to eating between 3,300 to 3,700 calories per day — far over the 2,500 typically recommended for men.
Eggs are a known to be a good source of protein, key for building muscles. They also contain many vitamins and minerals, including bone-boosting calcium, iron, zinc and potassium.
Mr Everett said: ’30 eggs gives me 190 grams of protein, my daily amount of vitamin A, 120 per cent of my vitamin D, tons of B vitamins.’
‘These arguably support muscle growth in one way or another.’
But he also cautioned that 30 eggs could provide ‘tonnes’ of cholesterol — 2,100 per cent the daily value — as well as 45g of saturated fat.
According to the NHS, adult men should not consume more than 30g of saturated fat per day due to the risks of weight gain and obesity-related diseases, like heart conditions.
To determine if eating 900 eggs in a month powered his workouts, he started a new weightlifting focused fitness regime, measuring his starting weight and performance across three barbell lifts, a deadlift, squat and a bench.
However, Mr Everett argued that he body will convert these fats into the male hormone testosterone, which, when paired with strengthening exercises, assists muscle growth.
About nine days into the challenge, there was a noticeable change in his behaviour, which he suspected was due to spiking testosterone levels.
‘I noticed I had actually been feeling pretty great,’ he said.
‘I felt more focused, had tons of energy in and out of the gym, my libido was higher, and I was a bit more driven and unrestrained.
But the final blood results showed no change in his testosterone.
‘My mood, focus, libido and energy all made it seem like I had higher testosterone but apparently not,’ he said.
Surprisingly, despite eating large amounts of a food thought to raise cholesterol, blood tests results showed positive change.
The levels of bad cholesterol, the type that builds up around blood vessels and that can lead to serious heart problems, barely shifted from his starting results.
Eggs are a known super food with the NHS advising they are a great source of protein, key for building muscles and also contain many vitamins and minerals
Other blood work showed the levels of good cholesterol in the body increased.
Overall, he said found the challenge relatively easy.
‘The first couple days weren’t really all that hard for me…it’s only about 3,500 calories and since I’m doing all that lifting I’m getting really hungry,’ he said.
It was only on day 20 that things started going awry following six days of 30 raw eggs per day.
‘I found myself stuck in the bathroom for over an hour, I was really constipated and my stomach kept painfully cramping up,’ he said.
But he found this was alleviated once he started cooking the egg whites again.
After some research, he suspected his digestive problems were caused by a substance called trypsin inhibitors which are in high levels in raw eggs and can trigger gut issues.
While Mr Everett said he was unsure if the result was as good as steroids, but added he ‘might do this again if I needed to bulk up’.
Some medics previously advised limiting the number of eggs eaten to three or four a week based on old research that suggested they contain high levels of cholesterol that could lead to heart problems.
However, more recent research shows moderate egg consumption, about one per day, alongside a varied diet, does not increase the risk of heart disease.
Studies have shown that food that are high in cholesterol do not necessarily increase levels of the fatty substance in the blood.
Health experts now advise no limit on how many eggs you should eat per day, as long as they are part of a balanced diet.
However, some cooking methods are healthier than others —for instance boiled eggs are far lower in fat than those that are fried in oil and butter.
