Eggs vs Egg Whites: Which is Healthier?
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The Ultimate Nutritional Comparison Of Eggs
On today’s episode of Live Lean TV, I’m comparing all the nutrition facts of eggs vs egg whites, and sharing which is healthier.
If you’re looking to get a lean flat stomach and six pack abs, should you say yes to the egg yolk or should you stick with just egg whites?
Welcome to the ultimate nutritional comparison of eggs.
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In today’s video, I’ll be covering the following topics:
- Comparing the nutrition facts: eggs vs egg whites
- Which is better for weight loss: eggs vs egg whites?
- What are the most nutritious types of eggs?
- Are eggs bad for cholesterol?
- Do eggs affect your HDL and LDL cholesterol levels?
- Bioavailability of protein
- Are darker egg yolks healthier?
Let’s jump into it by first taking a closer look at comparing the nutritional profile of eggs vs egg whites.
Comparing The Nutrition Facts: Eggs vs Egg Whites
When you remove the egg yolk from the whole egg, the nutritional profile dramatically changes.
Let’s compare the macronutrient and micronutrient breakdown of eggs vs egg whites.
Nutrition Facts: 1 Large Whole Egg (53g)
- Calories: 70
- Protein: 6g
- Carbohydrates: 0g
- Fat: 5g
- Cholesterol: 186mg
- Vitamin A: 270 IU
- Vitamin B1 (Thiamin): 0.02mg
- Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): 0.229mg
- Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid): 0.765mg
- Vitamin B12: 0.445mg
- Vitamin D: 41 IU
- Vitamin E: 0.525mg
- Vitamin K: 0.20ug
- Calcium: 28mg
- Choline: 147mg
- Folate: 23.5ug
- Iron: 0.875mg
- Lutein: 252ug
- Phosphorus: 99mg
- Zinc: 0.645mg
Nutrition Facts: Egg Whites (33g)
- Calories: 18
- Protein: 4g
- Carbohydrates: 0g
- Fat: 0g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
- Vitamin A: 0 IU
- Vitamin B1 (Thiamin): 0.001mg
- Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): 0.145mg
- Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid): 0.063mg
- Vitamin B12: 0.03ug
- Vitamin D: 0
- Vitamin E: 0
- Vitamin K: 0
- Calcium: 2.31mg
- Choline: 0.363mg
- Folate: 1.32ug
- Iron: 0.026 mg
- Lutein: 0ug
- Phosphorus: 4.95mg
- Zinc: 0.01mg
As you can see, due to the egg yolk, whole eggs contains way more:
- Nutrients
- Vitamins
- Minerals
- Antioxidants
Since the yolk contains a variety of beneficial nutrients not found in egg whites, whole eggs are now being classified as one of the most nutrient packed foods you can eat.
Speaking of antioxidants, one of these important antioxidants found in egg yolks is lutein.
Lutein is important since it is known to help protect the body from inflammation, which is a major contributor to heart disease.
Which Is Better For Weight Loss: Eggs vs Egg Whites?
Whole eggs are a high quality excellent source of calories.
The calories from whole eggs are made up of:
- 33% protein
- 66% fat
This is important since protein and healthy fat are the two most filling macronutrients to help regulate your appetite.
These nutrients keep you satiated throughout the day, reduces cravings, thus helping you eat less overall calories.
Even though egg whites are lower in calories since they are 100% protein, since they do not contain fat, they won’t fill you up as much when compared to whole eggs.
If weight loss is your primary goal, try combining a few whole eggs with egg whites.
This will keep the calories lower, while still getting a healthy source of satiating protein and healthy fat.
If optimal health is your goal, stick to whole eggs for the win.
What Are The Most Nutritious Types Of Eggs?
The healthier the animal, the more healthy the food.
When it comes to finding the best eggs, with the highest quality nutritional value, look at:
- What the chicken was fed
- How the chicken was raised
There is a big difference in the nutritional value of eggs that come from chickens who:
- Are free to roam outside in the natural day light vs cooped up indoors inside cages
- Eat grass and other forage vs unnatural grains
Now let’s look at and explain the most common labels listed on eggs.
Egg Labels Explained:
- Conventional eggs
- Means the chickens are factory farmed and fed an unnatural diet of grains
- Free range eggs
- Means the chickens may have the option of going outside, but it does not guarantee they actually go outside
- This possibly means the eggs contain more Vitamin D if the chickens do roam out under the sun
- Cage free eggs
- Means the chickens are not raised in a cage, but may still be raised indoors in a small crowded space
- Omega-3 enriched eggs
- These eggs are similar to conventional eggs, however the chicken’s feed is supplemented with omega-3s
- This produces eggs that are much higher in heart healthy essential omega-3s fatty acids and lower in inflammation producing omega-6 fatty acids
- Pasture-raised eggs
- Chickens are free to roam outside
- They eat grass and other forage, with some commercial feed
- These eggs contain a higher level of vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, and omega-3s
- Organic eggs
- These are chickens who were not given hormones
- They were fed an organic feed
If you have access and can afford it, the most nutritious types of eggs are a combination of:
- organic
- pasture-raised
- omega-3 enriched
However, if you only have access to conventional eggs, they are still a healthy option.
If you want to lose belly fat and get six pack abs, I’d always choose conventional eggs over refined sugary breakfast cereals and processed bagels and breads.
Many studies show groups that ate eggs for breakfast lost or maintained their healthy weight, while the cereal and bread group gained weight.
Eating eggs for breakfast or snacks, regardless of the type of egg, helps control your appetite, thus making your eat less calories throughout the day.
This is much better than suffering through the blood sugar swings and cravings caused by processed cereal and bread.
Are Eggs Bad For Cholesterol?
Over the years, eggs, in particular the egg yolks, have been criticized as being bad for your health.
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This was due to the negative hype surrounding cholesterol and saturated fat.
Since the egg yolk contains all the fat and cholesterol, it was once thought whole eggs were unhealthy and bad for your heart.
This lead to the growing popularity of removing the egg yolks and only eating the egg whites, since egg whites are low in calories, high in protein, and contain 0 fat and cholesterol.
Was this just another case of nutrition confusion 101?
With more and more research now clearing up the confusion surrounding cholesterol, whole eggs have made a comeback.
Cholesterol plays many important functions in the body, including:
- Building and repairing human cell membranes
- Acting as a pre-cursor to the production of:
- Fat dissolving bile acid
- Sex hormones testosterone and estrogen
- Vitamin D
According to Harvard Health, cholesterol comes from two different sources:
- 80% of cholesterol is produced in your body through the liver
- 20% of cholesterol is consumed from foods containing cholesterol
According to this PubMed study, for most people, the body can control the amount of cholesterol in the blood by regulating the internal production of cholesterol.
In other words, when you consume foods high in cholesterol, your body can lower the internal production of cholesterol to help balance things out.
Based on this, it appears the consumption of foods high in cholesterol has minimal effect on blood cholesterol levels for most people.
Do Eggs Affect Your HDL And LDL Cholesterol Levels?
Their are two main types of cholesterol:
- High density lipoprotein (HDL)
- HDL is often referred to as the good form of cholesterol, since it’s linked to protecting against the buildup of plaque in the arteries, thus decreasing the risk of heart disease.
- Low density lipoprotein (LDL)
- LDL is often referred to as the bad form of cholesterol, as it’s linked to the buildup of plaque in the arteries, thus increasing the risk of heart disease.
In this PubMed study, they compared people who ate 3 whole eggs a day versus people who ate egg substitutes.
The egg eaters increased their good HDL cholesterol, while decreasing their bad LDL cholesterol.
The people who only ate egg substitutes did not experience the same positive results.
This shows consuming whole eggs are healthy and may help improve your HDL to LDL cholesterol ratio.
It’s time to stop being fat and cholesterol phobic, when it comes to egg yolks.
I’ve been eating 4 whole eggs every day for over 10 years.
A few months ago, I shared a video with the results from my at home cholesterol test and they were all healthy.
Score another point for whole eggs.
Bioavailability Of Protein: Eggs Vs Egg Whites
The bioavailability index represents a rating of how much your body can make use of certain protein sources.
Bioavailability Index:
- Whole Eggs: 100
- Egg Whites: 88
If you just eat egg whites for the protein, here’s the deal.
Even though the calories in egg whites are 100% from protein, the egg white protein has a lower bio availability rating, since they do not contain the same balance of amino acids as the whole egg.
This means the protein in egg whites do not absorb as well as protein from whole eggs.
It’s a small detail, but it’s still something to consider.
Are Darker Egg Yolks Healthier? What About The Brittle Egg Shells?
Egg yolks vary in color, but the color of the egg yolk typically does not have anything to do with the nutritional content.
The egg yolk color is usually determined by the pigments of the food the chicken eats.
When it comes to brittle egg shells, chickens that are lacking calcium in their diet may produce eggs with brittle shells.
3 Quick and Healthy Egg Breakfast and Snack Recipes
If you’re looking to add more eggs to your diet, I’ve shared numerous egg recipe videos over the years.
Click here to see my full recipe playlist.
I’ll also include links below to 3 quick and healthy egg recipes you can use for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snacks throughout the day.
Thanks for watching and keep Living Lean.
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Question Of The Day:
- Do you primarily eat eggs or egg whites?
- How often do you eat eggs?
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Brad Gouthro is the founder of Live Lean TV, a media company focused on helping men and women “Live Lean” 365 days a year. Brad’s programs and content have helped millions of people all over the world learn how to get in shape, and more importantly, sustain it for life.
Hi, I eat two whole eggs everyday for breakfast. My target is loosing the belly fat. Are they compatible?
Than you so very much for this, it’s exactly the kind if info I was looking for!
When I recently decided to lose my belly fat, I did three simple things that eork like a charm for me: I slept an hour more every day, I drank more water and went for a swim every other day.
Regarding nutrition, everything seemed like too much of a hassle, until now.
Thx!
Jack
comparing free-range to caged birds:
https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/free-range-eggs-zmaz07onzgoe.aspx
but I don’t think they are “peer-reviewed”.
However, this one is:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377840197001806
Please cite your sources for your claim that “Free range chickens produce eggs that are much higher in healthy omega 3 fatty acids and much lower in inflammation producing (in excess) omega 6s as well as higher levels of vitamins and minerals.”
To date there has been no research that would confirm your claim. Certainly the eggs may look different in color but that has a lot to do with diet and breed of chicken and less to do with nutritional quality. Would be interested to see what research you used in making that claim
@Jake – wrong. There have been numerous studies confirming the fact that Eggs from Free Range Chickens contain higher sources of nutrients including Omega 3 fats, as well as lower Omega 6 fats, which you could easily find yourself, if you cared to.
In the meantime, here’s an article explaining how Mother Earth News did a study of 14 different sources of eggs, sent them to a lab, and came up with the same conclusions https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/pastured-vs-omega-3-vs-conventional-eggs
Stop being a lazy promoter of false information and do a bit of research yourself. You might learn something useful, besides the fact that you’re wrong.