Which are healthier: Egg whites or whole eggs?

There are a lot of misconceptions about eggs out there. Let’s take a couple of minutes to tackle one of the biggies — egg whites versus whole eggs. There is a lot of misinformation out there, so let’s sift through the myths and finally figure out which is healthier — egg whites or whole eggs?

Egg yolks have been demonized for decades as harbingers of weight gain and heart disease, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Whole eggs are a nutritious food, and you’re actually doing your body a disservice by completely ditching the yolks. Here are four reasons whole eggs nutritionally beat out egg whites.

Egg whites alone can deplete nutrients.

Eating just egg whites can lead to biotin deficiency. Egg whites contain avidin, which is a substance which binds to biotin. Without the biotin found in the yolk to bind to, eating excessive amounts of egg whites can cause avidin to bind to the biotin stored in your body. In contrast, eggs are a food pre-packaged for you by nature. Both the white and the yolk work together to make a nutritionally complete food, whereas egg whites alone are really only half the story.

Yolks house nutrients.

Not only do the yolks house many B vitamins, healthy omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D and around half of the egg’s protein content, but yolks are full of essential amino acids that your body needs for hormonal balance. It contains L-arginine, which regulates growth hormone production in the body, as well as leucine, which assists in regulating blood sugar levels. The yolk also contains brain-boosting choline and eye-protecting phytochemical lutein. On the other hand, the whites on their own contain only a very small percentage of the these nutrients and a measly 3.5 grammes of protein (there are seven in a whole large egg). It’s pretty clear that you’re actually doing yourself a nutritional disservice by only eating the whites.

Yolks won’t skyrocket your cholesterol… This myth has been thoroughly busted, but some people are still tentative to embrace eggs into their healthy lifestyles. It’s been well-documented that an egg or two a day does not directly impact your blood cholesterol levels.

In fact, a piece in the British Medical Journal investigates 17 reports and concluded that consumption of an egg per day is not associated with an increased risk of stroke or heart disease.

Care2.com