Egg consumption and risk-markers for colorectal neoplasia.

A strong positive relationship between dietary intake of eggs and risk of colorectal cancer has been observed in a number of epidemiological surveys. In this study we investigated the relationship between egg consumption and intermediate biomarkers of crypt cell proliferation in the colon and rectum of 75 patients who had adenomatous polyps or no evidence of bowel disease. Biopsies of normal flat mucosa were obtained at colonoscopy, and microdissected crypts were used to measure crypt length, frequency of mitosis per crypt and spatial distribution of mitoses within the crypt. There was no significant difference in the consumption of eggs by patients with adenomatous polyps (n = 53) and those without (n = 22). There was no significant positive correlation between frequency of egg consumption and any of the parameters of crypt cell proliferation in the group as a whole, nor when the patients with polyps were analysed separately. This study provides no biological evidence of any relationship between egg consumption and abnormal cell proliferation among patients at relatively high risk of colorectal neoplasia.