Nutrition Value of Eggs, Egg White, &
Egg Yolk
An average sized egg (~50g), contains 39g water, 6.5g protein,
5.6g fat, 0.5g carbohydrates, and a host of vitamins and
minerals. Egg yolk and egg white make up the egg, and have
distinctly different nutrition values.
Egg Yolk Nutrition Fact:
*
Large size - 17g
Water - 8.893g
Energy kcal - 54.740
Energy kj - 228.820
Protein - 2.696g
Total lipid (fat) - 4.512g
Cholesterol - 209.78mg
Carbohydrate- 0.610g
Egg White Nutrition Facts:
*
Large size - 33g
Water - 28.898g
Energy kcal - 17.160
Energy kj - 71.280
Protein - 3.597g
Total lipid (fat) - 0.056g
Carbohydrate - 0.241g
* Values taken from the USDA Nutrition
Database
As you can see the egg white contains more protein with
almost no fat content, and no cholesterol, while the egg
yolk has less protein, and all the fat and cholesterol!
This has been the major reason why so many people eat egg
whites and throw away the egg yolk. "Just think of
all the fat and cholesterol", is what most people think.
Well, I should clear up a common misconception. Although
egg yolks contain high amount of fat, it has only 1.6g of
saturated fat (the bad kind), and the rest is poly and monosaturated
fats which are the good fats.
Fat content in eggs - 5.6
Inc saturated - 1.6g
Monounsaturated - 2.4g
Polyunsaturated - 0.6g
Despite what you're taught to believe, a large portion
of the fats in egg yolk are good fats! So eating just one
yolk a day isn't going to do any harm. obviously for serious
lifters who eat several up to dozens of eggs a day, its
wise to eat only the egg white and just 1 or 2 egg yolks.
Studies have found that saturated fats is the leading cause
of high blood cholesterol levels - even more so than dietary
cholesterol (that you get from food).
A Study of Egg Consumption and Risk of Cardiovascular
Disease in Men and Women.
This study involved 37,851 men aged 40 to 75, and 80,082
women aged 34 to 59, to study the association between
egg consumption and risk of coronary heart disease. During
8 years of follow for men and 14 years of follow up for
women, the researchers documented 2626 total cases of
coronary heart disease and stroke in both men and women.
They found no evidence of an overall significant association
between egg consumption and risk of coronary heart disease
(CHD) in either men or women, and in subgroup analyses,
higher egg consumption appeared to be associated with
increased risk of CHD only among diabetic subjects.
These findings lead to the conclusion that consumption
of up to 1 egg per day is unlikely to have substantial
impact on the risk of CHD or stroke.
Source: Journal of american medical
assoc.. 1999;281:1387-1394 www.jama.com
A Study on the effect of dietary cholesterol
on plasma cholesterol concentration in subjects following
reduced fat, high fibre diet.
168 subjects participated in a randomized crossover study
to determine whether doubling the present dietary cholesterol
from eggs had any influence on blood cholesterol levels.
The participants followed a reduced fat diet with higher
ratio of polysaturates to saturate fats. The participants
ate either 2 or 7 eggs a week.
After 4 weeks, there was a small increase in total cholesterol
of the group eating 7 eggs; however after 8 weeks, this
was no longer apparent. This lead to the conclusion that
further reduction in dietary cholesterol seem to be unnecessary
for those people who already reduced their intake of saturated
fats and increased the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated
fats.
So what does this all mean? Simple. You don't have to
worry all that much about eating just 1 whole egg each day
- its unlikely to increase your risk of coronary heart disease
or stroke.
So eat up!
For those who love eggs and eat dozens a day, just eat
one yolk and the rest egg whites. And if you're looking
for a simpler solution to cooking eggs everyday, then you're
probably looking for egg protein supplements.
Egg protein powders like Optimum Nutrition's 100% Egg
protein provides 22g of egg protein in a 29.4g scoop. I
use 100% egg protein often and have been happy with its
price, quality, taste, and ease of mixing. Read my review
of Optimum's
100% Egg Protein here. >>
Click here for Optimum Nutrition 100% Egg Protein |
