Should I eat my eggs raw? page

[maba]

http://www.jrussellshealth.org/cholesterol.html


The author says yolks when cooked above a certain temperature causes the cholesterol to be oxidized and therefore must be eaten raw or poached, boiled, over-easy and not scrambled or as omelettes.


What is your take on this?

[hannahc]

Interesting maba! My favorite way to eat eggs is over easy, it's how I cook them almost every day. Though I do really enjoy hard boiled eggs as well, which would go in the fully cooked category. Hmm.

[nina_70]

Yes...My understanding is the cholesterol is in the yolk. Eating the yolk "runny" is good, but egg-whites should ideally be cooked. Raw egg whites contain a substance called avidin that ties up biotin (Vitamin B6)...cooking releases that substance.

So...soft-boiled is good

Or....over-easy

[frogfarm]

After reading about the oxidization issue, I never cook my yolks past liquid -- strictly over easy now. I prefer them that way anyway, so better safe than sorry, although Sally Fallon says pasteurization and cooking don't by themselves oxidize cholesterol:


http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2009/0...-question.html

[tuscoyote]

i just read an npr interview the other day with this guy who has researched and written about how cooking food releases more nutrients and was a major step in human evolution etc. he stated that with a raw egg we are able to get about 50-60% of the available protein but when its cooked it jumps to like 93%

here is the link


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...&ft=2&f=510221

[grandma]

Maybe I am over thinking this, but in a hard-boiled scenario can the yoke be oxidized? does not seem like an oxygen rich environment -- but on the other hand the chick must need O2 to develop. I know over thinking.

[Mick]

[quote]

he stated that with a raw egg we are able to get about 50-60% of the available protein but when its cooked it jumps to like 93%</blockquote>


Sure. But vitamin B6, for which eggs are one source, is easily degraded by heat. Other nutrients may be for all I know.


It seems those traditional societies that we know about generally ate some of their animal foods, be it meat, fish, eggs, or dairy, raw.


They may have just liked it that way, but they may have had good reasons, even though they couldn&#39;t have given you an explanation in scientific terms. The B6 thing shows there can be reason. Actual deficiency of B6 has been a problem with heat-treated milk fed to babies:


http://www.vitamins-nutrition.org/vitamins/vitamin-b6.html


Cooked eggs taste great, and if Richard Wrangham says you&#39;d assimilate more of the protein that way I&#39;m sure he&#39;s right, but it might not be a bad idea to eat the occasional yolk raw, or at least very lightly cooked.

[OnTheBayou]

Lord, lord, lord.....


Just eat your eggs however you like them. We&#39;ve been doing this for thousands and thousands of years and has anyone dropped dead of oxidized cholesterol? Why is that bad? Maybe it&#39;s good? Maybe, most likely, it just doesn&#39;t matter.


And don&#39;t forget, uncooked, not thoroughly cooks eggs can carry salmonella............

[Madame P]

I read this in Cordain&#39;s Paleo Diet, about how frying the yolk will oxidize the cholesterol. He recommends poaching, hard-boiling or baking.


Supposedly, oxidized cholesterol, which is infused with damaging free radicals, is not good for the arteries and will contribute to a build-up of plaque. It&#39;s just a theory. But if you eat a lot of eggs, perhaps you will want to vary the preparation.


The risk of salmonella from store-bought eggs is minuscule due to pasteurization. There is more of a risk if you buy "raw" eggs direct from the farmer.

[dragonmamma]

Ha, ha, you&#39;re reading my mind, OTB. I was thinking "Lord, lord, lord...."


I refuse to use any more brain cells on this. I&#39;ll eat my eggs however I darn-well feel like it!