i have a few friends who have been all about the “healthy” egg white eating. but i had a conversation with an optometrist friend who had mentioned that recent studies had discovered vitamins were really in the yolk, including some nutrients potentially helpful to eye health. i decided to do a search on the interwebz to see what it all about. and i found this entry: “the incredible, edible egg yolk.”
according to that report, the yolk contains all or most of the vitamins in eggs.
As you can see from the table, the yolk contains 100% of the carotenoids, essential fatty acids, vitamins A, E, D, and K (6 items). The white does not contain 100% of any nutrient.
in addition to all that, the yolk also contains the good, fatty acids which are healthy.
Egg yolks contain the long-chain omega-3 fatty acid DHA, which is necessary for the brain and proper retinal function in the eye, and the long-chain omega-6 fatty acid arachidonic acid, which is required for the healthy skin, hair, libido, reproduction, growth and response to injury. These fatty acids are primarily needed by young children, pregnant and lactating women, and people with degenerative diseases involving oxidative stress, especially those of the nervous system such as Alzheimer’s.
whites don’t have that. when you dump the yolks for the whites only, you lose all the good stuff. i’m finding that keeping the whole egg in my diet has been the better choice for my health. check out the rest of the report. you’ll be surprised how little the whites have going for them.
