Raw Eggs

Do any of you use raw eggs as a source of high quality protein and fat in your diet? With all of the talk regarding salmonella poisoning is it safe to consume raw eggs?

Read T-mag. You only “absorb” half the protein from raw eggs, even if you dodge getting sick. Cook them.

Mercola’s advice is hit or miss. On this particular topic, he missed. Big time. Cook your eggs, let your body absorb the protein, and stay out of the bathroom (or the hospital). :slight_smile:

The other down side to consuming raw eggs is the fact that the enzyme avidin will bind to the b vitamin biotin and prevent its absorption into the small intestine. The only way to prevent this from occuring is to denature the avidin via the cooking process.

You should definitely cook your egg whites, but I, at least, am still unsure about whether cooking the yolks is a good idea. Mercola, as Demo mentioned, says to cook the whites but not the yolks, due to the oxidation of fats that will occur in the yolks when exposed to high temperatures (like those it would be exposed to during pan frying). I have been cooking my whites and eating my yolks raw for a few months now, and haven’t experienced any digestive problems. Maybe I just have an iron digestive system though :slight_smile:

With regards to Mercolas statement has anyone seen written results on this? I aksed a couple of my food technology professors and neither one of them are aware of this being the case.

What I usually do is boil some water,throw the egg yolk in for abit so that its a wee bit cooked but still runny, and then throw that into a protein shake. The reasoning behind eating them raw was to get the nutrients that are destroyed once they are cooked.

I don’t see how the yolks can oxidize if they’re not exposed to air.

I think the safest thing is to boil the eggs. That way, the temp doesn’t get to damaging levels.

My whole question is on the oxidation of fat and cholesterol that Mercola claims happens during the cooking process. I can’t find anything on this nor are my professors that I have asked. I disagree with his claims, so I’m just trying to find anything that validates his claims.

I’ve started to make scrambled egg-whites, then when I remove the whites from the pan, I add the yolks back in. I think the heat from the egg whites is enough to warm up the yolks a bit without oxidizing them. The result is kinda runny, but it tastes good.

Its hard to be scientific about throwing raw eggs into heated pans…

avidin is only in the whites

Mercola was more concerned about scramble eggs, and if you have to cook the yolks , boil of poach them. This way the yolks are not exposed to air. It make sense, as oils that are high in omega 3 usually oxidize easily. Here is a link to the article on his site:

www.mercola.com/ 2002/jul/6/biotin.htm

If someone steps forward and says eating your own shit will make you bigger and stronger, would you do it? I don’t care what the studies say, I’m not going to eat my eggs raw. That’s like eating someone’s snot!

there is a quote by arnold saying he would eat shit if it would make him bigger.

Ko, thanks for the link.

LOL! I don’t doubt that one minute. That’s when your passion becomes an unhealthy obsession. Sorry, but I’m not going to eat shit or raw eggs! ha!

“an unhealthy obsession” and ‘obsessed is what the lazy call the dedicated’ right?? haha

Hmmm…good point. LOL!

To me it all depends on your digestive system.
If you have a weak digestive system then I would cook the eggs.If you are used to eating “ripe” foods then go for it.I know a women that will cook steaks on the grill and then leave them out on the counter at room temperature for up to 2 days as she munches on them and she has no problems. I would not advise you try this,however,as she has been doing things like this for years and has developed her digestive tract to handle all those little critters that grow on and inside the food.


I used to eat raw eggs all the time and never had any problems…but I guess it would only take one that was really “ripe” to make you really sick.I used to mix them with protein shakes,but now with the great protein powders that are out now, I don’t do it anymore.