Egg Whites vs. Yolks; What Will You Eat In The Morning?
Wowzers! Check out this amazing chart showing the nutritional qualities of an egg yolk and an egg white.
I am astounded at the nutritional "bang" attainable from egg yolks and I'm in dismayed at glossy magazines and bodybuilding sites who glamorize an over-indulgence of egg whites.
From now on, folks, eat the whole egg! No ifs, ands, or butts about it; the whole egg is always your best choice.
Table 1: Egg Yolks Versus Egg Whites
| Nutrient | White | Yolk | % Total in White | % Total in Yolk |
| Protein | 3.6 g | 2.7g | 57% | 43% |
| Calcium | 2.3 mg | 21.9 mg | 9.5% | 90.5% |
| Magnesium | 3.6 mg | 0.85 mg | 80.8% | 19.2% |
| Iron | 0.03 mg | 0.4 mg | 6.2% | 93.8% |
| Phosphorus | 5 mg | 66.3 mg | 7% | 93% |
| Potassium | 53.8 mg | 18.5 mg | 74.4% | 25.6% |
| Sodium | 54.8 mg | 8.2 mg | 87% | 13% |
| Zinc | 0.01 mg | 0.4 mg | 0.2% | 99.8% |
| Copper | 0.008 mg | 0.013 mg | 38% | 62% |
| Manganese | 0.004 mg | 0.009 mg | 30.8% | 69.2% |
| Selenium | 6.6 mcg | 9.5 mcg | 41% | 59% |
| Thiamin | 0.01 mg | 0.03 mg | 3.2% | 96.8% |
| Riboflavin | 0.145 mg | 0.09 mg | 61.7% | 48.3% |
| Niacin | 0.035 mg | 0.004 mg | 89.7% | 9.3% |
| Pantothenic acid | 0.63 mg | 0.51 mg | 11% | 89% |
| B6 | 0.002 mg | 0.059 mg | 3.3% | 96.7% |
| Folate | 1.3 mcg | 24.8 mcg | 5% | 95% |
| B12 | 0.03 mcg | 0.331 mcg | 8.3% | 91.7% |
| Vitamin A | 0 IU | 245 IU | 0% | 100% |
| Vitamin E | 0 mg | 0.684 mg | 0% | 100% |
| Vitamin D | 0 IU | 18.3 IU | 0% | 100% |
| Vitamin K | 0 IU | 0.119 IU | 0% | 100% |
| DHA and AA | 0 mg | 94 mg | 0% | 100% |
| Carotenoids | 0 mcg | 21 mcg | 0% | 100% |
Plus, you get all the heart healthy benefits of fat and cholesterol.
Fat and cholesterol are good for you! Cholesterol is produced by your body and any attempts to decrease it via food pathways only causes our body to crank up the production, since it makes nearly 75% of all the cholesterol we need anyway. For some dietary cholesterol may even be an essential nutrient, and most high cholesterol foods are also high nutrient foods like eggs, butter, heavy cream, and liver to name just a few.Thanks Nutrition and Physical RegenerationChris Masterjohn, at his excellent website on Cholesterol and Health, gives a nice summary of the nutrition of egg yolks versus the egg whites:
Egg yolks are indeed full of cholesterol. Like most cholesterol-rich foods, they are jam-packed full of important nutrients, especially the fat-soluble vitamins and essential fatty acids.
In fact, the slew of nutrients in an egg yolk is so comprehensive that a few a day would offer better insurance than a multi-vitamin. Most importantly, the yolk contains most of the nutrients in an egg.
Egg whites, on the other hand, contain far fewer nutrients. The only thing that could justify their consumption is their attachment to their companion yolk.
Don't believe it? Below is a table that compares the nutritional value of egg whites and yolks, with data provided by the USDA. I've included additional analysis in the last two columns that provides the percentage of the total nutrition found in the yolk and the percentage of total nutrition found in the white.
...As you can see from the table, the yolk contains 100% of the carotenoids, essential fatty acids, vitamins A, E, D, and K (6 items). The white does not contain 100% of any nutrient.
The yolk contains more than 90% of the calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6, folate, and B12, and 89% of the panthothenic acid (9 items). The white does not contain more than 90% of any nutrient, but contains over 80% of the magnesium, sodium, and niacin (3 items).
The yolk contains between 50% and 80% of the copper, manganese, and selenium, while the white contains between 50% and 80% of the potassium, riboflavin, and protein.
Categories: Nutrition
Tags: yolk fat egg whites cholesterol
A recent research indicates that when hens are fed with a diet low in omega-6 fatty acids from a young age (feed high in wheat, barley, and milo and lower in soy, maize and sunflower, safflower and maize oils) they may cause less oxidative damage to human health.
Any thoughts on this?
Peace
Mike
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This is a wonderful comment. There is much debate of the effects of omega 6's vs. wheat cosumption. What you're asking is how differences would pan out in an egg of a chicken who consumed less 6's and more wheat and the study showed this to be an improvement. Hence your research study may be providing some evidence that omega 6 consumption is worse or more damaging than wheat consumption.
I recommend providing your evidence to biochemist, Robb Wolf at robbwolf.com
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