Published on August 10, 2019
If you’ve been scarfing down scrambled egg whites because you’re afraid to eat the yolks, you’re missing out on one of Mother Nature’s most potent fat-fighting nutrients: choline.
Found abundantly in egg yolks, choline squelches the body’s output of leptin, a hunger–stoking hormone that fuels between-meal cravings. (Yolks also deliver vitamins D and B12, so they’re great for your bones and brain too.
The yolk undeniably contains more cholesterol, fat and calories than the whites, but it also holds the majority of an egg’s nutrients. In comparison to egg whites, egg yolks contain:
● More calcium: 21.9 mg vs. 2.3 mg
● More iron: 0.4 mg vs. 0.03 mg
● More phosphorus: 66.3 mg vs. 5 mg
● More zinc: 0.4 mg vs. 0.01 mg
● More copper: 0.013 mg vs. 0.008 mg
● More manganese: 0.009 mg vs. 0.004 mg
● More selenium: 9.5 mg vs. 6.6 mg
● More thiamin: 0.03 mg vs. 0.01 mg
● More pantothenic acid: 0.51 mg vs. 0.63 mg
● More B6: 0.059 mg vs. 0.002 mg
● More folate: 24.8 mg vs. 1.3 mg
● More B12: 0.331 mg vs. 0.03 mg
● All of an egg’s vitamin A: 74 mg
● All of an egg’s vitamin E: 0.684 mg
● All of an egg’s vitamin D: 0.4575 mg
● All of an egg’s vitamin K: .3 mg
● All of an egg’s healthy fats: 94 mg
● All of an egg’s carotenoids: 21 mg
Egg whites are nearly fat-free, containing only one percent of an egg’s fat and are also cholesterol-free, low-calorie and contain the greatest percentage of an egg’s protein or 57 percent.
Turns out those concerns from health experts back in the day about eggs hiking your cholesterol were premature. Much newer studies have shown that cholesterol found in food has little to no connection with the kind that clogs the arteries.
So, to answer the question, “Which part of the egg is best?” I recommend both.
