Egg whites? shells?

About (not) consuming fresh raw fish and fresh raw egg yolks
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kaB00M
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Egg whites? shells?

Post by kaB00M »

3 Questions:
1.Which part of the egg contains the proteins?
2.Are egg whites that bad?
3.Are egg shells good in calcium? Can one eat them?

I know this questions has been anwsered before but couldnt find them.

Thanks.
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Oscar
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Post by Oscar »

ad 1. most of the nutrients are in the yolk
ad 2. egg whites aren't necessarily bad, but the contain Biotin anti-nutrients. I personally think that with the abundance of Biotin in yolks that shouldn't be any problem
ad 3. why would you want to consume extra calcium?
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RRM
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Re: 3 Questions: Which part of the egg contains the proteins

Post by RRM »

kaB00M wrote:1.Which part of the egg contains the proteins?
Both egg yolk (16%) and egg white (11%) contain protein.
kaB00M wrote:2.Are egg whites that bad?
Compared to cooked food?
No.
But when considering optimum nutrition, yes, and your body will tell you that.
Just try eating raw egg whites with nothing else for one meal a day for a whole week,
and compare how that feels to what you experience when eating yolks.
Your body will make you increasingly dislike the egg whites (which is not the case regarding yolks). Just try.
Are egg shells good in calcium? Can one eat them?
You can eat them, but digesting them properly is a whole different issue.
And you dont need to expose your vulnerable intestines to those sharp shells,
because even orange juice (for example) supplies you with sufficient calcium.
dandate2
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egg whites?

Post by dandate2 »

why not consume egg white with the yolk? I heard not having both creates a biotin imbalance
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RRM
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Re: Egg whites? shells?

Post by RRM »

Consuming both white and yolk, raw, you will probably develop an aversion for raw egg (incl yolks)
probably due to the anti-nutrients in raw egg white: avidine and ovomucoid (which are destroyed by cooking)

Egg yolk contains 53 mcg biotine / 100 gram, and no avidin (=anti-biotin)
Egg white contains 7 mcg biotine / 100 gram, and all the avidin,
so that consuming just raw egg whites can cause a biotin deficiency indeed,
but consuming just raw egg yolks will supply you with lots of biotin.
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Oscar
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Re: egg whites?

Post by Oscar »

dandate2 wrote:why not consume egg white with the yolk? I heard not having both creates a biotin imbalance
Why do you want to consume egg white?
Fredster
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Re: Egg whites? shells?

Post by Fredster »

I'm curious.

Hypothetically... Let's say I want to eat the egg whites instead of just throwing them away. It is, after all, resonably good protein. If I am worried about the anti-biotin effect of the avidin in the egg white, can I just whip it?

Facts seem to be:
1. Avidin is neutrailized by heating.
2. The protein in the egg white is denaturated by whipping.

Does this in any way mean that I can whip instead of heat the egg whites and get the same result? Regarding the avidin that is.
abicahsoul
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Re: Egg whites? shells?

Post by abicahsoul »

hmm... is avidin even a protein?
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RRM
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Re: Egg whites? shells?

Post by RRM »

Yes, avidin is a protein.
Fredster wrote:If I am worried about the anti-biotin effect of the avidin in the egg white, can I just whip it?
No, research has shown that its quite hard to eliminate/neutralize the avidin,
even by cooking, as avidin's stability is unusually high.

Per Wiki:
A 1991 assay for the Journal of Food Science detected substantial avidin activity in cooked egg white: "mean residual avidin activity in fried, poached and boiled (2 min) egg white was 33, 71 and 40% of the activity in raw egg white." The assay surmised that cooking times were not sufficient to adequately heat all cold spot areas within the egg white. Complete inactivation of avidin's biotin binding capacity required boiling for over 4 minutes.(Durance, TD 1991
Fredster
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Re: Egg whites? shells?

Post by Fredster »

Big thanks.

I knew there was a catch...

But.

I think I have read somewhere that you don't really think that the presence of avidin is not that big of a problem, since wai-dieters are consuming so much biotin anyway. So maybe neutralizing it's effect a little is enough if you are on a wai diet, eating more than, say, 4 eggs per day.

And.

What if you separate the yolks and the whites? That's how I usually do it. I eat the yolks in my fruit sallad and make a small omelette with the whites. I also try to separate them in time so to speak. I am hoping that if I eat a couple of yolks at, say, 10 o'clock in the morning and save the whites for an evening omelette, the uptake of the biotin in the yolks will not be affected by the avidin in the whites. Since 8 hours would have passed I mean.

What do you think?
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Re: Egg whites? shells?

Post by RRM »

Fredster wrote: maybe neutralizing it's effect a little is enough
I doubt that whipping has a significant effect on avidin activity.
...make a small omelette with the whites.
Thats not according to the Wai diet rules.
Its not even acceptable as a munch food.
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