RE: egg whites [and an introduction]

[Guest guest]

Good morning to all of you:

I have been lurking here for some time, but now I decided it was time

to come out. This is a very active group, maybe it is the most active

group I have ever seen, so I guess it is very difficult to keep up

with everything that is going on.

Well, my name is José- [zho-zéh káhr-los]. This is not a

Spanish name, it is Portuguese, since I am Brazilian. And I live in

Brazil. Please forgive me my mistakes in English.

I have a few questions about egg whites. Can Pratick or anyone else

tell me why an infant shouldn't be given egg whites? I have often

heard this before, probably there is a connection with vaccination

(for those who believe in vaccination), but no answer has ever

satisfied me. Aren't egg whites problematic only if eaten raw? When

is a child ready to eat the white? Can anyone be allergic to free-

range or organic eggs? Or only with battery eggs?

Thanks for your attention.

José-

> > I am going to start eating (well drinking, can you say egg nog :-

) a few raw eggs every

> > day, I was thinking about just using the yolks as aren't the

whites difficult to

> > digest? My question is what do I do with the whites? With the

trouble to get free range

> > I don't want to waste them. Any suggestions?

>

> I believe egg whites are a problem only when eaten by themselves,

i.e. without the yolks.

>

> A lot of people who think they have allergies to egg are actually

allergic to the whites

> and not the yolk.

> Some are under the impression that eating the whites and not the

yolk will help reduce

> their cholesterol numbers.

>

> Anyhow, if you are making an egg nog using raw eggs, it shouldn't

be a problem if you put

> the entire egg into it (unless you are allergic to egg whites).

>

> HTH

>

> P.S. Egg yolks should not be given to infants - so if you are

preparing the egg nog for

> your daughter, use only the yolks.

>

> P.P.S. I hate to say it, but you don't want to use too many egg

whites in any kind of

> prepration - since they are known to bring on allergies.

> That's the way allergies are - they strike out of the blue, stay

with you for years and

> then disappear as mysteriously as they came.

> I used to love sea-food a lot, esp. shrimp - and one fine day, I

got a severe allergic

> reaction to it and haven't been able to eat shrimp since then.

> I guess that's nature's way of telling us that too much of a good

thing isn't good )

>

>

>

>

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[Guest guest]

[Masson, quoted by ] Whenever you take away any part of a food,

not only this part will mean a lack, but also the remaining parts will

become useless or

harder to assimilate.

[MAP] This is mystical nonsense. I would like to see him eat the bones

with his steaks to be consistent with his philosophy. For that matter,

I'd like to see him eat a portion from every part of the cow, sheep,

etc, including hooves, skin, hair, bones, etc with every meal in which

he eats any other parts. While he's at it, he should be eating apple

seeds and mango pits. Or more to the point, he would have to defend

always eating egg shells.

In any case, since poultry eggs weren't a human food for two million

years or so and people demonstratably did quite well without them, I

don't see much basis for fretting over the whites. I'd recommend

opportunistically tweaking this useful food source just as much as any

other.

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. --Alan Kay

[Guest guest]

> In any case, since poultry eggs weren't a human food for two million

> years or so and people demonstratably did quite well without them, I

> don't see much basis for fretting over the whites. I'd recommend

> opportunistically tweaking this useful food source just as much as any

> other.

>

> Mike

> SE Pennsylvania

>

> The best way to predict the future is to invent it. --Alan Kay

Do you have any links handy on why egg whites basically have no

nutritive value and why yolks are so much better?? My mom was trying to

convince me they were easier to digest than yolks (she probably thinks

that because of the cholesterol issue)....

BTW, I saw a truck this morning her in Atlanta, GA with Alan Kay's

quote from above - pretty neat !!

Magda

[Guest guest]

[magda]> > My mom was trying to

> > convince me they were easier to digest than yolks (she

> probably thinks

> > that because of the cholesterol issue)....

>

[pratick]> It is not just your mom - even respected members of the

> medical profession (otherwise

> known as " doctors " ) believe this with all their heart and

> promote this.

> Cardiologists routinely tell their patients (who don't want

> to give up eggs) to throw

> away the yolk and eat the whites )

>

Good lord -- I'd say it's just about everybody who's trying to get you to

throw out the yokes. My wife and I ate egg white omelets when we were on

the Zone and living the Body for Life lifestyle for about two years. I hate

to even think how many worthless grocery store egg yolks that I threw down

the disposal during that time. For about 6 months I was eating a kind of

pancake almost daily that was made out of oats and a dozen egg whites. Lots

of good protein, you know!

I would say that eating egg whites only is the current societal " healthy

norm " rather than the other way around. When I did my first experiment with

the NHE diet and started eating egg yolks again I just absolutely knew that

my arteries were clogging up with each bite. Dr. Sears had told me so.

Arachadonic acid, eicosonoid imbalance, flipped hormonal pathways, yada,

yada, yada.

How far we have come....

Ron

[Guest guest]

>[MAP] This is mystical nonsense. I would like to see him eat the bones

>with his steaks to be consistent with his philosophy. For that matter,

>I'd like to see him eat a portion from every part of the cow, sheep,

>etc, including hooves, skin, hair, bones, etc with every meal in which

>he eats any other parts. While he's at it, he should be eating apple

>seeds and mango pits. Or more to the point, he would have to defend

>always eating egg shells.

[Heidi] Actually, there is some truth to this ... our ancestors DID eat the

hair, bones, etc. of animals with the meat ... things like whole baby

birds and baby fish. The calcium in the bones allows the meat

to be processed (balances the potassium?).

So while I wouldn't take it to extremes, I agree it's better as

a rule of thumb to eat the " whole thing " , certainly not " mystical

nonsense " . Of course eating the tree with the apple is a bit

ridiculous, and there can be good reasons for getting rid

of part of the food (peeling potatoes, cutting off the

tops of carrots, de-hulling grains). The BEST foods though,

you can eat the whole thing (Daikon radishes: the tops and

the bottoms both make great kimchi).

And yeah, I'd argue you SHOULD eat the eggshells. Whole eggshell

or whole bones are the best mineral source, and many of

us are deficient in those minerals. It's just a matter of coming

up with a good recipe ...

>[MAP] In any case, since poultry eggs weren't a human food for two million

>years or so and people demonstratably did quite well without them, I

>don't see much basis for fretting over the whites. I'd recommend

>opportunistically tweaking this useful food source just as much as any

>other.

[Heidi] Egg protein is considered the most " balanced " in terms of amino acids

of any protein source, if you can digest it and aren't allergic to it.

Plus it's really a wonderful thing to use in baking ... makes great

breads and macaroons. However, I don't fret over them one

way or another, we have so darn many eggs ... I agree though, they

were never a major staple for humans until humans started farming.

Heidi Jean

[Guest guest]

> Do you have any links handy on why egg whites basically have no

> nutritive value and why yolks are so much better??

http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic238.htm

Biotin was first recognized as an essential nutrient factor in mammals in 1936.

Ten years earlier, the inclusion of large amounts of raw egg whites in

experimental diets in rats had produced symptoms of toxicity. The symptoms

appeared within a few weeks of initiation of the diet containing raw egg whites.

In 1926, Boas referred to these symptoms of toxicity as egg-white injury

syndrome. The major findings included severe dermatitis, loss of hair, and lack

of muscular coordination. Boas also noted that yeast, liver, and several other

foodstuffs contained a substance that protected rats from egg-white injury

syndrome. Later, the protective compound in the foodstuffs was identified as

biotin.

The biochemical basis for egg-white injury syndrome was quickly elucidated when

raw egg whites were found to contain the glycoprotein avidin, which has a

remarkable affinity for biotin. Once a biotin-avidin complex forms, the bond is

essentially irreversible; the biotin-avidin complex is not broken during passage

of the food bolus through the stomach and intestines. As a result, biotin is not

liberated from food, and the biotin-avidin complex is lost in the feces. The

final step in solving the mystery of egg-white injury syndrome was the

demonstration that the syndrome could be prevented by heating the egg whites, a

process that denatures avidin and destroys its affinity for biotin.

http://www.worthington-biochem.com/TI/default.html

Ovomucoids are the glycoprotein protease-inhibitors of avian egg white. There

are several protease inhibitors in egg white. One acts upon ficin and papain

(Fossum and Whitaker 1968); another, ovoinhibitor (Matsushima 1958), is a

significant contaminant of crude ovomucoid preparations and acts upon bovine

trypsin and chymotrypsin as well as porcine elastase and fungal proteinase

(Feinstein and Gertler 1972; Gertler and Feinstein 1971; Liu et al. 1971;

Tomimatsu et al. 1966). Chicken ovomucoid inhibits bovine trypsin mole for mole

but does not inhibit human trypsin ( 1971; Feeney et al. 1969). It is

electrophoretically heterogenous (Beeley and McCairns 1972; Beeley 1971; Melamed

1967; Bier et al. 1953). Both Bier and Beeley reported three major and two minor

components with similar trypsin inhibiting activity but differing galactose,

sialic acid and N-acetylglucosamine moieties. Ovomucoid conformation studies

have been done by Murthy et al. (1973), Beeley (1972) and Donovan 1967). The

arginyl residue for trypsin binding has been indicated by Liu et al. (1968). It

does not contain tryptophan.

Specificity: Feeney et al. (1967) have shown that although ovomucoid of

different species show different inhibiting specificities, their physical

properties differ only slightly. Thus, et al. (1960) have shown that

golden pheasant ovomucoid inhibits only chymotrypsin whereas that from turkey

inhibits both trypsin and chymotrypsin simultaneously and duck ovomucoid

inhibits two moles of trypsin and one of chymotrypsin simultaneously.

Bruce

[Guest guest]

[Magda] Do you have any links handy on why egg whites basically have no

nutritive value and why yolks are so much better??

[MAP] Yes, this is the only link you need: <usda.shim.net>

[Magda] My mom was trying to

convince me they were easier to digest than yolks (she probably thinks

that because of the cholesterol issue)....

[MAP] There's a classic one! Guilt by association. Let's see, if

property X (cholesterol) is Bad, then unrelated property Y

(digestibility) must be Bad too! Makes sense, right? Heck, they

probably cause cancer and infertility too... LOL. But I know how you

feel (well, probably everyone on this list does) because my

grandfather has been doing egg whites, skim milk, turkey breasts,

shredded wheat cereal (for breakfast every morning), bagels,

pseudo-whole-wheat bread, very thin pat of butter at most, etc for

years and he acts like I'm some kind of smart-mouthed punk kid if I

try to explain any of the fat/cholesterol stuff to him.. I've

estimated his fat intake as less than 10%. Late 70s, deteriorating

health,... the usual story. Like most people in the world and of his

generation, he's a stubborn, simple person with little education who

bows to the ultimate authority of Network TV, MDs, Reader's Digest,

Rome, and their kin....

[Magda] BTW, I saw a truck this morning her in Atlanta, GA with Alan Kay's

quote from above - pretty neat !!

[MAP] Wow! That's weird/surprising/cool. I've been using that sig for

way too long, but every time I go to change it, I realize I love it

too much to give it up! I've got some other gems lined up, so one of

these days...

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. --Alan Kay

[Guest guest]

> the inclusion of large amounts of raw egg

> whites in experimental diets in rats had produced symptoms of

> toxicity.

> Bruce

The explanation for this toxicity thing was pretty intense but with so many

big words I believe!

Back to this yolk/whites question (sorry.) I assume that we're to gather

from this study that egg whites have a toxic quality *only* when eaten

alone. By extension, isn't the study suggesting that eggs whites are, at the

very least, okay when eaten along with their yolks?

The point I'm trying to make is that, when it comes to yolk and white, maybe

the sum is greater than the two halves.. Maybe some sort of food synergy is

at work here? Maybe they need each other...

~Robin

[Guest guest]

Pssst! DH prefers to eat the seeds with his apples. He heard

somewhere that humans traditionally ate the entire fruit, seeds

included. IIRC, they contain a tiny bit of cyanide, which his source

says is anticancer.

>

>

> >[MAP] This is mystical nonsense. I would like to see him eat the

bones

> >with his steaks to be consistent with his philosophy. For that

matter,

> >I'd like to see him eat a portion from every part of the cow,

sheep,

> >etc, including hooves, skin, hair, bones, etc with every meal in

which

> >he eats any other parts. While he's at it, he should be eating

apple

> >seeds and mango pits.