Student Research Symposium Program Portal: Submission #209

Abstract The overall goal of this research is to understand the impact of high-egg-consumption diets upon cardiovascular health. To do this, the correlation of egg consumption to the LDL-c/HDL-c ratio in humans is being studied. The LDL-c/HDL-c is considered one of the most important markers of cardiovascular health. The question of how eggs affect the body has been long researched and debated, largely focusing on cholesterol and cardiovascular health. Lately, evidence has pointed towards eggs being healthy in moderate amounts (up to 2 eggs daily), but there is a research gap into the effect of high-egg-diets (more than 2 a day). Filling this research gap will help fill the nutritional picture of eggs, allowing us to more fully understand and utilize eggs in our diets. Certain populations may benefit from positive findings regarding eggs, such as those with heart disease if eggs are shown to help in large numbers. Certain populations may be warned by negative findings, such as body builders who may eat 6+ eggs daily. Data will be collected from all willing participants, with data deidentified and variables accounted for once data is collected. The independent variable being collected is routine egg consumption, and the dependent variable is the participants’ LDL-c/HDL-c ratio as recorded by independent lipid panels. The experiment will compare the association between the egg consumption variable and the LDL-c/HDL-c ratio variable.