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The Egg
Epic

View all
articles by Robboe

Written by :
Robboe      print
article

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article

How
about a quick lesson in fats?

There are three main types of
fat: saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. There are also
hydrogenated and trans fatty acids, but these will not be covered in this
article.

Saturated fat is the predominant fat in animal
foods. Some vegetable oils are highly saturated, too. Palm oil, palm
kernel oil, coconut oil, and cocoa butter, often used in processed foods,
contain large amounts of saturated fat. These fats have no double bonds
and have all the hydrogen that they can hold onto, making these fats very
stable. Saturated fats are also associated with high blood pressure, high
cholesterol levels and obesity. These aspects will be covered later in
this article.

Monounsaturated fat sources include olive oil,
canola oil, nuts and nut butters. They are missing a hydrogen pair giving
them one double bond in their chemical structure. Monounsaturated fats are
also called Omega-9 fatty acids. The body does not synthesise this type of
fat, but can produce omega-9 fatty acids from carbohydrates. Therefore,
monounsaturated fat consumption, although not 'essential', is still
beneficial.

High levels of polyunsaturated fat are found in
most cooking oils, and also in seafood. Polyunsaturated fats are missing
two or more hydrogen pairs, or have two or more double bonds in their
chemical structure. They are also called Omega-3 fatty acids and again the
body does not synthesise this type of fat, making polyunsaturated fat an
essential fatty acid.

Why does your body need these essential
fats?

In a nutshell, theyre needed to live. They are required for
hormone production; they bolster immune function, regulate blood pressure,
and are even good for your hair and nails! Their effect upon cholesterol
will be covered later.

The body can live quite happily without any
saturated fat consumption, but eating no saturated fat at all is very
difficult and impractical, especially for bodybuilders whose protein
choices seem to have at least some fat content.

Now, why have I
told you all this?

The nutrient breakdown of a whole egg [50g]
according to the USDA nutrient database is:

- 77.5 kcals
- 6.29g
protein
- 5.305g fat
- 0.56g carbohydrate

There is about 5.3g
of fat in a whole egg, of which, only 1.6g is saturated fat. The remainder
of the fat in the yolk is either monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats.
So for a bodybuilder who wishes to increase their daily intake of good
fats, keeping the yolks when they eat their eggs is an easy, practical and
cost-efficient method of doing so.

The fat found in the yolk is
not the only reason a bodybuilder should eat the whole egg. Lets talk
about the benefits of the whole egg, especially relating to bodybuilders.

Lets face it, bodybuilders have been obsessed with protein ever since
they discovered it was crucial for tissue growth, and more specifically,
muscle growth.

Until the break through of the current whey craze,
it was believed that the egg contained the highest quality food protein
known. It was thought so near to perfect, that it was used as the standard
by which all other proteins are judged. Based on the essential amino acids
it provides, egg protein was second only to mother's milk for human
nutrition. The Biological Value (BV) index was proposed. It is a
measurement of protein quality expressing the rate of efficiency with
which protein is used for growth. The scale was out of 100, where 100
represents top efficiency:

Whole egg 93.7
Milk 84.5
Fish
76.0
Beef 74.3
Soybeans 72.8
Rice, polished 64.0
Wheat,
whole 64.0
Corn 60.0
Beans, dry 58.0

[This scale was gotten
from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The Amino
Acid Content of Foods and Biological Data on Proteins. Nutritional Study
#24. Rome (1970). UNIPUB, Inc., 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD
20706]

When it was realized that some wheys score up to 150+
using this scale a new one was produced using whey as the most efficient.

Just as a side note, supplement companies exploit the BV for their
advertisements, some stating that their special blend of proteins scores
a 180+ on the BV. These kinds of claims are exaggerated and use the BV
with the egg value as most efficient. The scale with whey as
100:

Whey protein 100
Casein 77
Egg 83
Beef 80
Soy
Isolate 74
Wheat gluten 54

Egg protein contains all the
essential amino acids in a pattern quite similar to the amino acid profile
our bodies require. The amino acids are called essential because the human
body needs them but can't synthesize them, just like with the essential
fats. Because of their amino acid profile, eggs are classified with meat
in the food pyramid and egg protein is called a complete protein.

Not only the bodybuilding diet, but also the human diet must
regularly supply protein which contains all of the essential amino acids.
The egg contains all of the essential amino acids - histidine, isoleucine,
leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and
valine. As well as containing the essential amino acids, the whole egg
houses the remaining nine other amino acids.

Are you sold yet?
-->>

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