The Epic Egg....

[CHIQUITITA]

Here's an article for everything you ever wanted and did'nt want to know about eggs.

The Egg Epic
In today’s society of supplements and meal replacements, eggs have taken back seat to the revolutionary concentrated, isolated and hydrolysed whey, which everyone seems to take religiously. The labels and adverts that come with these supplements have given a false belief to those without better knowledge that by simply training and taking these supplements they too will get the size of cover models. Lets face it, the models are usually frequent steroid users and have at least at one point in their life eaten the right foods to get where they are now, despite how clueless a lot of them are. Those with any sense, which comes quite rare these days, will without a doubt, just like their predecessors of the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s have used eggs as one of their first choices for protein.
I’m not saying that supplements are useless, but most are overrated and the general public never seem to realise that they are exactly what they are – supplements. They supplement a good diet. A good diet includes eggs. Wanna know more?

(Coincidentally, out of general interest, you may want to know that I’m eating an omelette as I write this…)

Well, since this is an epic I suppose I best begin with some history. Nobody really knows when the first fowl was domesticated because birds preceded man in the evolutionary chain. Indian history places the date as early as 3200 B.C. and Egyptian and Chinese records show that fowl were laying eggs for man in 1400 B.C. Allegedly Columbus' ships carried the first of the chickens related to those now in egg production to America from Asia.

Before I move onto the bodybuilding and health benefits of eggs, I’d just like to clarify a few things. Eggs are graded in a process called classification. This is determined by interior and exterior quality. It is designated by the letters AA [the “best”], A and B. An old wives tale is that to get the best protein you must go for the better quality eggs. I’d like to be the one to inform you all that there is no difference in nutritive value between the different grades. In fact, because of production and marketing methods being very efficient, eggs are moved so quickly from the coop to the market that there is very little difference in quality between grades AA and A. The only real difference is the price. Grade B’s are perfectly fine, but rarely find their way into retail supermarkets. They usually go to bakeries or other foodservice operations.

The egg itself has two distinct parts: the white and the yolk. It is common practice for bodybuilders to throw away the yolk. This can be for several reasons, the most notable being calorie control. Whites are the chosen protein source for their zero fat content and trace carbohydrate content. The nutrient breakdown of a large egg white (33.40g) as according to the USDA nutrient database is:

- 16.7 kcals
- 3.514g protein
- 0.0g fat
- 0.344g carbohydrates


The egg white also contains several vitamins and minerals, which will be discussed later.

Other than calorie control, people remove the yolks because of it’s fat content. The yolk is a very misunderstood part of the egg. People believe that fat is ‘evil’ and shouldn’t be consumed, or at least that fat consumption should be kept to a minimum. This misconception stems from the fact that very few people can actually distinguish between ‘good’ fats and ‘bad’ fats. Good fats are essential for any human, not just bodybuilders, hence their name ‘essential fatty acids’.

How about a quick lesson in fats? -->>


How about a quick lesson in fats?

There are three main types of fat: saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. There are also hydrogenated and trans fatty acids, but these will not be covered in this article.

Saturated fat is the predominant fat in animal foods. Some vegetable oils are highly saturated, too. Palm oil, palm kernel oil, coconut oil, and cocoa butter, often used in processed foods, contain large amounts of saturated fat. These fats have no double bonds and have all the hydrogen that they can hold onto, making these fats very stable. Saturated fats are also associated with high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and obesity. These aspects will be covered later in this article.

Monounsaturated fat sources include olive oil, canola oil, nuts and nut butters. They are missing a hydrogen pair giving them one double bond in their chemical structure. Monounsaturated fats are also called Omega-9 fatty acids. The body does not synthesise this type of fat, but can produce omega-9 fatty acids from carbohydrates. Therefore, monounsaturated fat consumption, although not 'essential', is still beneficial.

High levels of polyunsaturated fat are found in most cooking oils, and also in seafood. Polyunsaturated fats are missing two or more hydrogen pairs, or have two or more double bonds in their chemical structure. They are also called Omega-3 fatty acids and again the body does not synthesise this type of fat, making polyunsaturated fat an essential fatty acid.

Why does your body need these essential fats?

In a nutshell, they’re needed to live. They are required for hormone production; they bolster immune function, regulate blood pressure, and are even good for your hair and nails! Their effect upon cholesterol will be covered later.

The body can live quite happily without any saturated fat consumption, but eating no saturated fat at all is very difficult and impractical, especially for bodybuilders whose protein choices seem to have at least some fat content.

Now, why have I told you all this?

The nutrient breakdown of a whole egg [50g] according to the USDA nutrient database is:

- 77.5 kcals
- 6.29g protein
- 5.305g fat
- 0.56g carbohydrate

There is about 5.3g of fat in a whole egg, of which, only 1.6g is saturated fat. The remainder of the fat in the yolk is either monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats. So for a bodybuilder who wishes to increase their daily intake of good fats, keeping the yolks when they eat their eggs is an easy, practical and cost-efficient method of doing so.

The fat found in the yolk is not the only reason a bodybuilder should eat the whole egg. Let’s talk about the benefits of the whole egg, especially relating to bodybuilders.
Lets face it, bodybuilders have been obsessed with protein ever since they discovered it was crucial for tissue growth, and more specifically, muscle growth.

Until the break through of the current whey craze, it was believed that the egg contained the highest quality food protein known. It was thought so near to perfect, that it was used as the standard by which all other proteins are judged. Based on the essential amino acids it provides, egg protein was second only to mother's milk for human nutrition. The Biological Value (BV) index was proposed. It is a measurement of protein quality expressing the rate of efficiency with which protein is used for growth. The scale was out of 100, where 100 represents top efficiency:

Whole egg 93.7
Milk 84.5
Fish 76.0
Beef 74.3
Soybeans 72.8
Rice, polished 64.0
Wheat, whole 64.0
Corn 60.0
Beans, dry 58.0

[This scale was gotten from “Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The Amino Acid Content of Foods and Biological Data on Proteins. Nutritional Study #24. Rome (1970). UNIPUB, Inc., 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706”]

When it was realized that some whey’s score up to 150+ using this scale a new one was produced using whey as the most efficient.

Just as a side note, supplement companies exploit the BV for their advertisements, some stating that their ‘special blend’ of proteins scores a 180+ on the BV. These kinds of claims are exaggerated and use the BV with the egg value as most efficient. The scale with whey as 100:

Whey protein 100
Casein 77
Egg 83
Beef 80
Soy Isolate 74
Wheat gluten 54

Egg protein contains all the essential amino acids in a pattern quite similar to the amino acid profile our bodies require. The amino acids are called essential because the human body needs them but can't synthesize them, just like with the essential fats. Because of their amino acid profile, eggs are classified with meat in the food pyramid and egg protein is called a complete protein.

Not only the bodybuilding diet, but also the human diet must regularly supply protein which contains all of the essential amino acids. The egg contains all of the essential amino acids - histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine. As well as containing the essential amino acids, the whole egg houses the remaining nine other amino acids.

Are you sold yet? -->>

[CHIQUITITA]

What about the micronutrient content, you say?

Well, I can safely tell you that eggs are jam-packed with goodness as far as vitamins and minerals go. This should be obvious because of course, this is what was going to sustain a baby chick. This is another reason why the yolk should be eaten and not thrown away.
An egg contains varying amounts of 13 vitamins but no vitamin C. With the exception of riboflavin and niacin, the yolk contains a higher proportion of the egg's vitamins than the white. All of the egg's vitamins A, D and E are in the yolk. Out of general interest you may note that egg yolks are one of the few foods naturally containing vitamin D, the ‘sunshine vitamin’. As far as mineral content goes, the yolk also contains more phosphorus, manganese, iron, iodine, copper, and calcium than the white, and it contains all of the zinc.

Still want to throw away the yolk?

Well, here are some reasons why you might.

A large egg contains 213mg. of cholesterol. In case you’re wondering how this affects you, here’s a quick lesson in cholesterol.

Cholesterol is not a fat. It is a waxy, fat-like substance produced by all animals, including humans. It is needed for many bodily functions and serves to insulate nerve fibers, maintain cell walls and produce vitamin D, digestive juices and is the “Mother” of our hormones. As far as bodybuilders are concerned, cholesterol is important in testosterone production, a hormone heavily involved in muscle tissue formation. Cholesterol is essential for life. Your body produces all the cholesterol it needs. If you consume more cholesterol than your body needs, it will respond by absorbing less.

There is a difference between dietary cholesterol (the cholesterol you consume in foods) and blood cholesterol (the cholesterol in your bloodstream, also called serum cholesterol). Dietary cholesterol is present in varying amounts in some foods, such as meat, poultry, seafood and dairy products. Dietary cholesterol does not automatically become blood cholesterol when you eat it.

Blood cholesterol can be broken down into two major parts: HDL (high-density lipoprotein) and LDL (low-density lipoprotein). HDL is known as good cholesterol because it helps move cholesterol back to the liver for removal from the bloodstream. LDL is referred to as the bad cholesterol because helps cholesterol stick to artery walls. Nice.

There is little doubt that elevated blood cholesterol levels increase the risk of heart disease and the effect of dietary cholesterol on blood cholesterol levels is the subject of debate among health professionals. This is because genetics play a large role in how much cholesterol and individual’s body makes, so research does not show that food cholesterol significantly boosts blood cholesterol levels in everyone.

The U.S. Dietary Guidelines and the American Heart Association currently recommend an average daily intake of no more than 300mg, a recommended level that has not been challenged, or revised, since the 1970's. Certain people may not need to restrict their cholesterol intake to less than 300 milligrams a day because scientific studies suggest people react differently to dietary cholesterol. Apparently a majority of people can handle cholesterol intake within the range that people normally consume (300 mg - 400 mg) without significantly raising their blood cholesterol level.

Saturated fat has the greatest influence on raising LDL and blood cholesterol. The monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are known to reduce the LDL and actually help raise the HDL.

There was a study comparing the effects of feeding twenty-eight males four regular or omega-3 fatty acid enriched eggs per day for two weeks. Eggs were obtained from hens fed either zero, ten or twenty percent flax seed diets. The results of the addition of the eggs each day increased plasma total cholesterol levels an average of 13 mg/dl. This was a change of 1.9 mg/dl. There was also an increase of HDL cholesterol levels of 2 mg/dl.

Ferrier et al. 1995. Alpha-linolenic acid- and docosahexanaenoic acid-enriched eggs from hens fed flaxseed: influence on blood lipids and platelet phospholipid fatty acids in humans. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 62:81-86.

From this study it would appear that the fatty acid composition of the egg has no real relationship to the effects of dietary cholesterol on plasma cholesterol levels. Basically, some individuals are more sensitive to the effects of dietary cholesterol than others. So for this I would say that if your family has a history of high cholesterol or heart problems, don’t eat a ridiculous amount of whole eggs each day, but the odd few yolks for the protein, good fats, vitamins and minerals can be very beneficial, especially for bodybuilders.

The only other concern with eggs is their sodium content. Sodium is another factor associated with blood pressure and heart disease. Providing you aren’t salting all of your food, the naturally occurring sodium from the eggs should not cause an effect of any significance.

There are also several concerns with bacteria growth in eggs. Any bacteria found in eggs are killed off from the heat when eggs are cooked so it is strongly recommended that you cook eggs before consumption. Also, According to a study found by John Berardi, the body can only utilize about half of the protein found in raw egg products, so you’d be better off cooking them anyway.

The most common form of bacteria associated with eggs is Salmonella. The bacteria are found in the intestinal tracts of animals, birds, reptiles, insects and people. Because Salmonella species are so widely distributed in nature and so easily spread – especially through improper food handling, Salmonellosis, the illness caused by Salmonella bacteria, is a common disease caught through food.
There various symptom that come from Salmonellosis , including abdominal cramps, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, chills, fever and headache. These generally last about a day or two. They can lead to serious complications for the very young, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems, although Salmonellosis is rarely fatal.

With health and safety laws of current day, Salmonella outbreaks are few and far between. Food handling is a lot stricter so the chances of an infected egg actually reaching the supermarket are slim. But still, it’s best not to take the chance.

Well this is an epic so I’d better continue!

Have you ever cracked open an egg to see a tiny spot of blood? And did it make you feel sick, thinking that the egg was contaminated some how?

If so, then you’re wrong.

The blood spots are occasionally found on an egg yolk and are caused by the rupture of a blood vessel on the yolk surface when it’s being formed or by a similar accident in the wall of the oviduct. The spots are usually noticed by electronic scanners and removed so that they never reach retail, but there’s always the odd few that escape the net. The spots are perfectly fine to eat, albeit a little uncomfortable, but if they are something you regularly notice in your eggs I suggest you change your brand because they clearly have poor scanning equipment. Well, either that or you are very unlucky…

Another misconception of eggs is with the stringy piece of the egg white attached to the yolk and how people see these as a sign of contamination. These strands are the chalazae which anchor the yolk in the centre of the thick white. The prominence of the chalazae is a good test to see how fresh the egg is – the more prominent, the fresher.

As far as cooking goes, as is true for most foods, some minor nutrient losses do occur in the egg. Of the nutrients in an egg, riboflavin, thiamin and folic acid are generally less heat stable than other nutrients. Normal cooking simply changes the form of egg protein but it is still just as nutritious. Protein is destroyed only when it is severely overcooked such as in the brown lacy edges of an overcooked fried egg. You can preserve the highest nutrient content possible by avoiding overcooking.

Eggs are amazingly versatile. In fact, chefs all over the world would be lost without them. They are used in anything from ice cream to mayonnaise, from cakes to alcoholic beverages and from soufflés to good ole’ common omelettes. From this information I’d definitely say that as far as the old brainteaser goes, the egg came first.

Now, if you think I’m finished you’re wrong, because no ‘epic’ would be complete without some completely worthless information.
There is an event which happens twice a year when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are of equal length everywhere. This is known as the Equinox. During the spring (vernal) equinox (about March 21), it is said that an egg will stand on its small end. Although some people have reported success, it is not known whether such results were due to the equinox or to the peculiarities of that particular egg. And then of course there are others who insist that some eggs will stand on their small ends at any time of the year, the non-fun-loving bastar…


Written by Rob Clarke
Sports Nutrition and Diet - The Egg Epic

[CHIQUITITA]

Just posted this article in another thread but it has great information that compares the nutritional values between the egg white and yolk. A very good read here.

The Incredible, Edible Egg Yolk

[FlirtfromHell]

Awesome post! Thanks Chiq.

[Gator_Mclusky]

Interesting read!!!!!!!!!

[jm1974ri]

great post chiq!!!! very informative

[Jamo]

Wow.....
I, before reading this, drink 5 raw egg whites a day, with one yolk.
Im going to up that to two yolks now, but still, i want to know more about this study found b John Berardi on the utilisation of raw egg proteins.
Since ive been drinking them ive seen a major difference, i think i may have to start scrambling them.

[spartan]

I was having a discussion about eggs with a good friend of mine just a few days ago. I'm gonna have to send him this post now