Is The Action of Throwing Away More Than 7 Billion Egg Yolks Per Year Contributing to Our Disease Epidemic?

August 9, 2012 by 48 Comments

Egg Yolk

Do you throw your egg yolks in the trash? If you don’t anymore then you probably used to.

Ask yourself why you do this or why you used to. If you don’t anymore then ask yourself why you now eat them whole. Please leave a comment below with your answers.

The egg yolk contains more nutrients than the egg white on a calorie per calorie basis (click to tweet!). Comparing a calorie to a calorie for each food is a more fair comparison since in the end we will eat about the same amount of calories no matter what we eat as long as the foods are nourishing. If I were to go by weight then the yolk would demolish the white.

I’ll play fair.

I am NOT against the egg white. I just recognize that millions of humans that live on this beautiful planet continue to ditch the egg yolks. This includes family members that I love dearly who are having health issues.

Some of the reasons that humans avoid egg yolks are as follows:

  • Too many calories
  • Too much cholesterol
  • Too much fat
  • Too much saturated fat

The human will throw the egg yolk, a perfectly healthy food, into the trash. Instead, that person will make up his or her calorie load with alcohol, bagels, donuts, bread and the like.

What’s wrong with this picture?!

Calories provide energy so we move and function. Cholesterol is the master hormone. It’s a nutrient just like Vitamin A. Would you ever stay away from Vitamin A? Vitamin C? Fat comes packed with fat soluble vitamins like A, E, D, K. Isn’t it a shocker that the egg yolk which is 75% fat contains these exact nutrients? And saturated fat is heart healthy.

Bagels, donuts, cereal, alcohol, bread and the like contain little to no nutrition. These types of foods are what is causing this disease epidemic that we are in.

Who’s to blame? I blame me. I blame you. I blame my parents. I blame dietitians. I blame professors. I blame the television. I blame Big Agra. I blame the pharmaceutical industry. I blame greed. I blame stupidity.

In short, I blame us.

The nutritional information is gathered from NutritionData.com.

Vitamins: Egg Yolk vs Egg White

Looks like the egg yolk dominates the vitamin department.

The egg yolk is the clear winner in the vitamin department. No competition. Dr. Weston A Price, one of the most important humans to ever roam planet Earth, studied dozens of cultures during his trip around the world with his wife, for a full decade.

He discovered that the diets of primitive tribes contain 10 times as many fat soluble vitamins compared to modern man. This was back in the 1930′s. Can you imagine what it’s like today?! Perhaps 20 times?!

Those who were eating the diet of their ancestors had superb health in all aspects. Virtually free of disease. When those tribes began eating the diet of modern man their health declined.

In one tribe, soon to be mothers would eat 10 whole eggs a day in order to produce a perfectly healthy baby. Ten egg whites a day would not have done anything.

Are you ready to throw the egg yolk into your mouth instead of the trash?

Minerals: Egg Yolk vs Egg White

The mineral department is a close call.

Who wins this round?

Dr. Weston A. Price also discovered that the diets of the primitive tribes had 4x as many of the water-soluble vitamins and minerals. I am all for the egg yolk but I always eat the white with it. If I add yolks to my smoothies then I’ll cook up the whites in butter.

Fat & Protein: Egg Yolk vs Egg White

Egg whites may have more protein but the yolk has way more fat: a nutrient!

Again, fat is a nutrient. Saturated fat is just as important as Vitamins A, E, D, K, B12, etc. Saturated fat does not lead to heart disease. Saturated fat is heart healthy.

Omega 3 fatty acids are very important for our health. We tend to get way too many rancid omega 6 fatty acids. The best way to balance the ratio is to eat less omega 6. Egg yolks are a fine source of omega 3 fatty acids. If you look at the nutritional profile you will notice that egg yolks have way more omega 6. However, if you buy pastured eggs then that ratio will be closer to 2:1 in favor of omega 6. This is near perfect for just about everyone.

I am not suggesting that we begin trashing the egg white. Nature provided us with a perfect food. Eat the whole entire egg. Both are very nourishing. It just so happens that the egg yolk is a little better. But together? They are nearly perfect.

An important ending note is that many are allergic to eggs. This does NOT mean that you have to be allergic for life. You more than likely need to do some gut healing which can take up to several years. The #1 book that I recommend for any human who wants to restore their health, is Practical Paleo.

Spread the truth about eggs

So why do humans continue to throw away 7,434,913 egg yolks every single year? Because we have been mislead and continue to be mislead. My mission is to spread the truth about health and wellness. I want every living human to know what the truth is. We all deserve it. If you think this article helps this mission will you please spread it through social media? Just click on one of the buttons below or to the side.

P.S. I made up that statistic in the last paragraph. And, if you support our mission then why not join the Toadally Primal Tribe? As I write this, 955 awesome humans are in. Are you? You’ll receive Toadally Primal Smoothies (150 awesome recipes) in your inbox if you sign up today. Click here to do so now.

photo credit

Filed Under: Nutrition
Toadally Primal Newsletter

Toadally Primal Smoothies Junior (30 recipes) is yours free if you join today!

Join 4213 subscribers!

About Toad

Is my name Todd or Toad? I'm a world traveler seeking true wellness. I'm not a fan of labels but the following describe me best: minimalist, foodie, entrepreneur, adventurer, writer, cook.

  • Morghan

    Never even considered throwing it out. Why even eat an egg if you toss the tastiest part?

    • http://primaltoad.com/ Todd Dosenberry

      Because many are afraid of the calories, fat, cholesterol…

      • Michael

        I’d say it’s mostly because of the fear of cholesterol (the “ugly”), and while it does contain LDL (the “bad”), it also boosts HDL (the “good”). However, since primal/paleo people all but remove baked goods from their diets anyway, which is where a high portion of cholesterol can be gotten as well, you can maintain a good ratio if you’re eating an appropriate amount. It’s varies person to person, so just figure out what’s right for you. I personally have 3-4 eggs whenever I do eat eggs, but I plan to cut that down to ~ 6-7 a week maximum, including hard-boiled.

        It’s about balance.

        • http://primaltoad.com/ Todd Dosenberry

          Why are you cutting down your egg consumption?

    • Mark

      Egg whites are a good source of protein and potassium (although they do have sodium too).

  • http://www.the-fat-loss-choice.com/ Alexandros Xenos

    I totally agree with you. It is insane to throw away the best and most nourishing part of a “superfood” as I like to call eggs. However, and this is the part that would be most interesting to investigate, egg has been accused as a culprit to many conditions, such as the ones you mentioned, because the methods of the food industry that takes everything natural to make a big nothing in order to maximize production and sales. Feeding chicken with artificials and not their natural source of food has been making not only unhealthy chickens but eggs that are much less, if nothing at all, nourishing.
    So I am with you on the consumption of egg yolks as long as the eggs are certified organic.

    • http://primaltoad.com/ Todd Dosenberry

      No matter how the chicken was raised, the eggs are still very nourishing. But yes, pastures eggs are waaaaaaaay better!

  • ferment nguyen

    I usually throw away the egg WHITES, due to egg protein allergy

    • http://primaltoad.com/ Todd Dosenberry

      :)

      • Lisa

        Interesting, I didn’t know just the white should be tossed for the allergy. Still good to inform that raw whites bind with biotin, so cook w/yolk or toss then too!

        • http://primaltoad.com/ Todd Dosenberry

          Yes I know about biotin. It’s why I no longer add whole eggs to smoothies. Instead I just add raw yolks and then cook the whites!

  • http://www.facebook.com/paleoplus Lori Hampton Young

    The egg white is the inflammatory part of the egg. Eating it whole is the healthiest way to do it. We see eggs getting a bad rap as well by just eating the whites because it can flair arthritis and other inflammatory conditions.

    • http://primaltoad.com/ Todd Dosenberry

      Yeup. Exactly. When people learn they have trouble digesting eggs it’s the white. It has nothing to do with the yolk!

  • Pingback: Day 12 « I'm not dead yet!

  • http://www.facebook.com/laura.wheeler.39 Laura Wheeler

    Eggs disagreed with me for a long time, while I was battling Crohn’s. As I healed from it (no medication, just clean food), I found that I could eat egg yolks, but not egg whites. I can finally eat limited amounts of egg white, but egg yolks never did upset my stomach. It was kind of a lightening bolt moment for me when I realized that so many people vilify the yolk when the egg white is far harder to digest. I eat eggs whole when I can – why throw away good food if you don’t have to?

  • http://www.acneeinstein.com/ Seppo Puusa

    I never throw away the most nutritious part of the egg, and to my recall have never done so. In honestly that was probably because I was lazy, not because I had some nutritional premonition :)

    Anyway, this myth just keeps getting stronger and stronger because of irresponsible reporting by the media. Los Angeles times just recently reported about a study that ‘showed’ how egg yolks are as dangerous as smoking. The study was complete garbage and Science Based Medicine did a good job showing how bad it is: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/eggs-and-atherosclerosis/

  • http://primaltoad.com/ Todd Dosenberry

    Yea I have seen this floating around on various different media sites. It’s getting out there to the public fast. It’s unfortunate but that the same time it just motivated me like crazy to spread the truth because society is really being mislead.

    I can’t wait to read that article you linked to. Mark Sisson debunked it too and I am sure Denise Minger will too on RawFoodSOS.com. I think I will too in about 2 weeks or so. I could talk about eggs all day.

    • http://www.acneeinstein.com/ Seppo Puusa

      By all means check it out. I really like reading that blog. They look at all the review studies on eggs, cholestrol and heart disease. They show that there’s no good evidence that eating eggs is bad for your cholestrol levels or increases rate of heart problems.

      Though I suppose you don’t really like what they say about saturated fats. The people writing that blog are mostly doctors and usually stick to what the data says. As it stands at the moment sat. doesn’t seem to be that bad, but one couldn’t say it’s exactly heart healthy either :) Though maybe we can’t extend that to organic, grass-fed meats and saturated fat.

      • http://primaltoad.com/ Todd Dosenberry

        I will.

        Foods that contain saturated fat, like grass fed, pastured meat is good for the heart. Especially liver since its rich in COQ10. Coconut too.

        Eating muscle meat and nothing else while stressing out, staying indoors, etc is NOT healthy.

        It all depends on the context. Always. But saying saturated fat is heart healthy is more accurate than saying its artery clogging.

        Do you agree or disagree? I love honest thoughts :)

        • http://www.acneeinstein.com/ Seppo Puusa

          I remember we had our discussion on saturated fat and insulin resistance before :) I have to say that beyond that I just don’t know.

          I tend to give more credit to scientists than many paleo people do. Meaning I believe they have, to their best ability, isolated the role of saturated fat from exercise, stress, smoking and other confounding factors. It has always rubbed me the wrong way that paleo promoters dismiss findings from several studies on the basis of such confounding factors.

          Of course some studies have such flaws, but I find it hard to believe that most studies finding the link between sat. fat and heart disease would be flawed.

          But it’s not really my area of interest, and so I haven’t looked into it in detail. That’s why I don’t have a strong opinnion on this.

          • http://primaltoad.com/ Todd Dosenberry

            Yes I remember too.

            I just don’t yet see the advantage in isolated ANY nutrient. There is no single food in the world that contains one nutrient. So how could we possibly say that saturated fat causes heart disease? How could we say that any single thing causes anything? You just can’t.

            Is it possible to get a good general idea about something? Yes. I mean, most studies point to the fact that isolated omega 3 decreases your chances of getting heart disease. BUT, is this really the best way to do it? What about the risks of overdoing it and what about the quality? It’s much easier to limit your omega 6 intake since if you did so you would be limiting junk food!

            Do you understand where I am coming from? The fact that I wear and sell an “I eat heart healthy saturated fat” t-shirt does not mean that taking straight up isolated saturated fat will be healthy for the heart. I am talking about saturated fat that comes from whole, real food. Animal foods are usually mostly monounsaturated fat.

            I just strongly believe that our fear of saturated fat (thus all animal foods for some reason) and cholesterol is one of the greatest contributors to our disease epidemic.

            What do you think of my thoughts?

            I’m really enjoying this educational conversation.

          • http://www.acneeinstein.com/ Seppo Puusa

            I also like open discussion and change of idea. It’s unfortunately rare, with most discussions turning into dogmatic shouting matches.

            I agree with you there that isolating nutrients doesn’t help. I don’t know the history here too well, so I can’t say how this fear of saturated fat came about. It’s possible it happened in those artificial nutrition studies where they give one group straight up saturated fat (perhaps mixed into other food) and other group gets either other type of fat or carbohydrates (with equal calories). This goes on for 2 to 3 months and then they do a battery of tests and see if there’s a difference between the groups.

            As I mentioned in my first comment I’m not sure how well this applies to real foods. Like whether eating grass-fed beef and other healthy animal foods causes health problems. And even if that’s the case the effect doesn’t seem to be too big.

            My take is not to worry too much about eating animal foods and saturated fat. But I also wouldn’t go so far as to say making them a large part of your diet is healthy. Maybe it is, but so far the paleo claims haven’t convinced me.

          • http://primaltoad.com/ Todd Dosenberry

            “I also like open discussion and change of idea. It’s unfortunately rare, with most discussions turning into dogmatic shouting matches.
            ” Indeed! I can’t take some of the discussions on blogs sometimes.

            Anything can be overdone. It depends on the individual. The Eskimoes are extremely healthy and eat a substantial amount of fat, especially saturated fat with little to no carbs. Nearly perfect health.

            I also have a theory that your environment has a huge impact as to what your diet should look like. Your activity levels are big too. Local fruit here in Grand Rapids, MI is probably pretty damn healthy for me during the peak Summer season. But eating as much fruit during the winter hours if I am not as active is probably not as health. This is just a theory and have no way of proving this yet but why not lean towards eating seasonally?
            What Paleo claims are you talking about exactly? Some are crazy, others are whatever and even others are very legit. And I am not a big fan of the word Paleo but millions now know what it means in a general sense. Eat real foods without stressing about it.

            Do you read anything by the Weston A Price Foundation?

          • http://www.acneeinstein.com/ Seppo Puusa

            Again I want to emphasize that this isn’t really my area of interest, and I haven’t looked into the claims in detail. So I may be wrong :) When I talked about claims I meant the way many paleo authors dismiss the scientific findings linking saturated fat and heart disease on the basis of confounding factors (like smoking, lack of exercise, stress, etc).

            Maybe somebody has made convincing arguments, but so far I haven’t crossed paths with those.

          • http://primaltoad.com/ Todd Dosenberry

            Fair enough. We both agree how important whole, real foods are without stressing about having a perfect diet. I think this message is key. Right?

          • http://www.acneeinstein.com/ Seppo Puusa

            Yes, we both agree on that. Eat real food, and not too much of it – like Michael Pollan wrote.

            In a fairly recent episode of The Skeptic’s Guide To The Universe (highly recommend listening to it) they talked about the egg study again. Also about saturated fat and based on their review of evidence it seems that saturated fat may have lightly negative effect on heart disease. But probably nothing to worry about if you go paleo and cut out the artificial crap from your diet.

            They also talked about what scientific research in general says about the health effects of diet and whether it makes sense to start tweaking your diet too much. The conclusion was that as the evidence stands today there’s no good reason to over-optimize or hack your diet. Basically, eat real food, not too much and don’t worry about the rest.

            I’ve come to more or less the same conclusion myself also. That’s why I don’t fuss too much about diet anymore. And I’m very skeptical of the whole ‘perfect diet’ thing.

            Here’s the link to the podcast episode if you want to check it out.

            http://www.theskepticsguide.org/archive/podcastinfo.aspx?mid=1&pid=370

      • http://primaltoad.com/ Todd Dosenberry

        I will.

        Foods that contain saturated fat, like grass fed, pastured meat is good for the heart. Especially liver since its rich in COQ10. Coconut too.

        Eating muscle meat and nothing else while stressing out, staying indoors, etc is NOT healthy.

        It all depends on the context. Always. But saying saturated fat is heart healthy is more accurate than saying its artery clogging.

        Do you agree or disagree? I love honest thoughts :)

  • Pingback: bread/mufffin or nothing - Page 2

  • Pingback: Absurd New Study Claims Eating Egg Yolks Is “Nearly as Dangerous as Smoking Cigarettes” | The Alliance for Natural Health USA

  • Pingback: 10 Benefits to Visiting Your Local Farmers Market Today

  • http://primaltoad.com/ Todd Dosenberry

    He said mostly plants. But, that can definitely work!

    Is the Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe a podcast? It does sound quite interesting.

    Oh I am with you on a perfect diet. There is no such thing and there never will be. Folks who use that do it for marketing purposes. I am OK with that as it does get a human tuning in to whatever they have to say. And you know what I also believe? No matter who you are, we all have something to say. We all have knowledge. We all have different experiences. And it all matters.

    And stress is huge. I am all for optimizing my diet as long as I am not stressing about it. If I notice I am stressing too much then I take a step back. But if you can figure out that X food does this and X food does that then why not? Cheese tends to make me congested. I love it but I also do not like being congested. And it’s grass-fed cheese from Ireland.

    Oh well…

    • http://www.acneeinstein.com/ Seppo Puusa

      Lol, I know. That’s why I left the plant part away!

      Skeptic’s quide is a podcast. They are dedicated to advancing science and critical thinking. Helped me a lot to clarify my thinking. Skeptoid is another good one.

      Stress is one reason I don’t like ‘perfect diets’, most people can’t follow them. I can’t remember how many emails I’ve gotten from acne patients who basically ruin their whole social life in order to follow this ridiculous diet that’s supposed to clear their skin.

      Nice blog redesign, btw :)

      • http://primaltoad.com/ Todd Dosenberry

        Wow. That is one popular podcast. Thank you so much for the recommendation! I think I am going to really enjoy it. I am downloading the most recent episode right now. Do you think it’s worth starting from episode 1 and playing catch up? Or should I start later at like episode 200 or 300?

        Skeptoid is also quite popular. Downloading the latest episode. Again, is it worth going way back?

        I am glad you bring that up. You should read my post about the beer and pizza diet: http://primaltoad.com/beer-pizza-diet/

        Thanks about the redesign comment too. I love it as well. Simple genesis theme. I can’t believe I found it. It’s done by Brian Gardner who does amazing work. Only $25 (but you need Genesis which is $80). I’ve already had 3 or 4 people comment on how much more they love it. One sent me an email asking where they can get it. Another tweeted me who just found me a month ago. And now you. There may be one more and I just changed it about 32 hours ago!

        • http://www.acneeinstein.com/ Seppo Puusa

          Liked the beer and pizza diet post! That reminds me, I have to pop at the fridge :)

          I’m not sure that I would go too much back with Skeptic’s Guide. I mean they are 1 hour each, so it takes quite a bit of time. Mostly they talk about current items. I eventually listened to all the Skeptoid episoids. They are more evergreen and shorter. I would at least recommend to go through the episodes and download the ones that seem interesting to you.

          • http://primaltoad.com/ Todd Dosenberry

            Lol. Excellent. I will do that then. I’ll probably listen to the most recent 5 first and then go back and listen to what sounds interesting. Although literally everything intrigues me these days! I just have a passion for life… another key factor in optimal health! Going after your passion…

  • Pingback: Is Eating Egg Yolk “Nearly as Dangerous as Smoking Cigarettes”? | Live in the Now | Natural Health News | Natural Health Resources

  • http://www.alivealivealive.com/ Therese

    Wow, I didn’t realize people actually did this. I’ve never thrown egg yolk away… I have to admit to separating it from the egg white if I had to for a particular recipe, but I’d always store it in the fridge for later. If anything, I’m guilty of throwing the egg white away a couple of times, haha :) Great post!

  • Pingback: Toad’s Top 10 21 Day Sugar Detox Staple Foods

  • Pingback: Nuts Nutritional Information Part 1

  • Pingback: You Know When You Are Primal When…

  • Dr. Newman

    Excellent post! An additional benefit to consuming the yolk is the “Choline.” A whopping ~100mg is found here, which is a clinical gem for patients. Choline is highly cholinergic and also provides methylation (di and Trimethylgycine) which is critical for detox and lowering homocysteine levels. And on the Saturated fat topic; perhaps a more interesting discussion may be to isolate the fatty acid i.e. palmitic, vs stearic vs. lauric etc. They all have diffeeen properties and react differently in the human body. I’ll have to get back to you on that research, but overall = well said!

    • http://primaltoad.com/ Todd Dosenberry

      Yes choline is huge.

      Why would you isolate the nutrients if they they are NEVER isolated in foods? Don’t all foods have a a percentage of all the saturated fatty acid chains or at least a couple? So isolating them to me makes absolutely no sense – it does not tell you if it’s good or bad. To me, it just is. It’s kind of like fructose – sure it’s bad isolated but if you eat it in raw honey or fruit then all of a sudden the fructose is not bad. It’s not good but it comes with nutrition if you eat whole foods. And the fructose provides energy.

      Do you see where I am coming from?

  • Pingback: The Paleo Diet Defined by a Toad

  • Pingback: How to Influence Family & Friends to Go Paleo: Avoid Arguments

  • Pingback: 10 Questions & Answers on Organic, Grass-Fed, Pasture-Raised Meat

  • Pingback: How to Convince Your Family to Give Up Cereal

  • Mark

    This is a fascinating article. I throw out 6-8 yolks per day. My reasons for doing so are to lower cholesterol and to lower saturated fat. I’m less certain about the cholesterol than the saturated fat. I’m not convinced on the saturated fat either but many studies suggest saturated fat (vs. monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats) raise total cholesterol and raise LDL cholesterol. That’s not heart healthy. For me, then, the jury is still out.

    • http://primaltoad.com/ Todd Dosenberry

      Do you honestly believe that not eating egg yolks which are full of nutrition will improve your health? Just think about it for a minute… forget everything you have heard about nutrition. What do YOU think?