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Are egg whites good for you? Well it depends upon what you do with them and how many you take.
Cooked egg whites are high in protein, have next to zero fat and no carbohydrates so they are good for athletes, those on a fat loss diet and those watching what they eat for health. Cooked egg whites are not bad for you in any way. As long as they are part of a balanced diet then cooked egg whites are a good addition for many people, I myself eat 10 to 20 egg whites a day for the protein, for muscle building.
Are raw egg whites good for you is a completely different question....
Raw egg whites contain a protein called Avidin (which is made safe in this instance by cooking). This protein binds to Biotin - water soluble vitamin B7 - and removes it from your body.
Now Biotin (vitamin B7) deficiencies are very rare as many foods contain adequate doses and your intestinal flora produce it the one case where it seems likely a modern person would get a Biotin deficiency is by eating or drinking raw egg whites. This is why raw egg whites are bad for you.
Take note though that drinking a few raw eggs (such as in a protein drink - something many bodybuilders do on a daily basis) once in a while won't do it but it takes months or years of regular raw egg white intake to get to the point of B7 deficiency.
From medscape.com comes this list of symptoms:
- Symptoms develop within 3-5 weeks of the onset of
deficient biotin intake. The most common cutaneous findings include the
following:
- Dry skin
- Seborrheic dermatitis
- Fungal infections
- Rashes, including erythematous periorofacial macular rash
- Fine and brittle hair
- Hair loss or total alopecia
- Approximately 1-2 weeks later, neurologic symptoms begin to develop. The most common neurologic findings include the following:
- Mild depression, which may progress to profound lassitude and, eventually, to somnolence
- Changes in mental status
- Generalized muscular pains (myalgias)
- Hyperesthesias and paresthesias
- Intestinal tract symptoms also develop and most commonly include the following:
- Nausea, occasionally severe
- Vomiting
- Anorexia
So it would seem that the question are egg whites good for you would depend upon if you cooked them, and if not how often you ate them raw. If you eat or drink raw egg whites on a daily basis then you will need to take a Vitamin supplement that contain Biotin, Vitamin B7.
To further show that raw egg whites are not good for you, when first discovered in 1926 (by Boas) this deficiency was called egg-white injury syndrome.
So go ahead and eat as many cooked egg whites as you want, they are good for you. While with Raw egg whites you may want to add a supplement just to make sure you are not damaging your body when you are trying to do good.
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