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If you were a rat, what would you want to look like…Rat A on the left or Rat B on the right?
It seems pretty obvious that Rat A is frisky, happy, and healthy in a normal, rat sort of way, while Rat B looks like he is on death’s door.
As it turns out, the rats’ exterior differences are a physical manifestation of their diet. (1)
Egg Whites vs Real Eggs
Guess what these little guys are eating?
Healthy Rat A is eating whole eggs.
Sickly Rat B is eating Egg Beaters, aka “liquid egg whites”.
How can this be? Processed egg whites are lab-synthesized to match the nutrition in a whole egg.
Developed in the 1970s, Egg Beaters has the same protein, fat, calories, macro minerals, and vitamins as Real Eggs! (2)
Marketed as a “healthy” egg substitute, liquid egg whites like Egg Beaters are routinely served to nursing home residents and is a typical breakfast choice of older Americans seeking to limit cholesterol and saturated fat.
The problem is when you take out the saturated fat and cholesterol from eggs and substitute vegetable seeds oils, nonfat milk, additives, chemicals, and a host of synthetic vitamins and feed it to adolescent rats what do you get?
The result is very sad looking rats like Rat B above.
Not only do these rats eating a factory food like Egg Beaters look unhealthy, they do not develop properly and have mangy looking fur.
In fact, rats fed eating processed egg whites develop diarrhea within one week and die within 3-4 weeks.
Clearly, Mother Nature does not recognize Egg Beaters as food in any way, shape, or form, despite “the science” claiming otherwise.
Egg White Diet
What about Rat A above and rats like him who eat whole eggs? These rats go on to develop properly and live out normal little rat lives.
Are you or a relative eating Egg Beaters thinking it is a better choice for your health?
Set the marketing mumbo jumbo and misleading doctor-speak about saturated fat and cholesterol aside for a minute and just look at the picture!
Make the call with simple common sense.
Doesn’t it seem downright foolish to eat processed egg whites if that stuff can make a young rat look like that within one week?
Perhaps it might help you to know that a 2024 review of the scientific literature on eggs found that eggs do not contribute to heart attacks, and for consumers to be aware of the false media narratives demonizing egg yolks.
Eggs are incredibly healthy and make a great contribution to a balanced diet. They have antioxidants and notably decrease triglyceride levels. Egg-predominantly carbohydrate-deficient meals show the best improvement in lipid levels when compared to similar eggless controls. Avoid discarding egg yolks, as they contain antioxidants, essential fatty acids, proteins, vitamins, and minerals that contribute to a healthy and balanced diet. Also, consumers must be aware of the media game, which portrays the illusion that eating their highly processed junk food [like Egg Beaters] is not as bad because the healthy egg yolks are also bad, despite the truth being that egg yolks are good for health. (3)
Dr. Mark Hyman MD agrees! (4)
Not only does the cholesterol in egg yolks not cause heart attacks, but omitting them from the diet by misguidedly eating only egg whites is a loss of critical nutrients that has huge negative implications for health.
Liquid Egg Whites for Convenience in Recipes?
What if you know that yolks are healthy, and you use whole eggs for omelettes and the like, but simply use liquid egg whites in cartons for convenient use in recipes (like meringues, angel food cake, etc.)?
In those situations, I would still advise against using packaged liquid egg whites from the store.
The reason is that the packaging is toxic!
The cartons (such as the popular cage-free 100% liquid egg whites) are lined with a thin layer of plastic, which adds an unwelcome dose of microplastics to the mix.
Thus, while it takes a bit extra time, it is still best to separate shelled eggs to use fresh egg whites in recipes that call for them.
Keep the extra yolks in a glass dish with a lid (they will keep for up to 4 days) until you use them up in smoothies, crème brûlée, eggs benedict, or other dishes.
(1-2) Morning Nourishment: Bountiful Benefits and Creative Ideas
(3) Debunking the Myth: Eggs and Heart Disease
(4) Eggs Do Not Cause Heart Attacks
More Information
Five Fats You Must Have in Your Kitchen
Why Organic Store Eggs are a Scam
What Oxidizes the Cholesterol in Eggs
Are Raw Egg Whites Healthy?
Duck Eggs: Even More Nutritious!
Too Funny, Sarah!
I was in quite a crazy frame of mind last night when I wrote this post! LOL
@randydjohns Egg Beaters: Food for Fools – The Healthy Home Economist http://t.co/deRCa4LK
Thank you!! We are learning so much from your posts.
As my alt doc says, you can’t “make” food…real food has to be raised or grown…
We don’t eat Eggbeaters either, or any other products that are not natural, but please don’t call other people “fools”. Not knowledgeable maybe, or unaware, but not fools.
Heh heh! Charlie Sheen – an example of what should never happen to human DNA. ; ->)
I have a friend who eats egg beaters – thinks they’re wonderful. He can’t figure out why he always has diarrhea . . . . . . .
Oh dear! 🙂
That is so sad! I just wish that people wouldn’t feel the need to insert demeaning language like “for fools” in an otherwise important message. Thanks for posting.
I’ve never been known to mince words. I call it as I see it 🙂
No, you haven’t, Sarah, LOL!
I think Jan has a point. If you saw that somebody had posted an article called “Eggs: Food for Fools” would you read it with an open mind? I bet you either would skip it or would read it ready to argue with every bit of it. If the article was called “New Research on Eggs” or “Why I Quit Eating Eggs” you might be more ready to THINK about what it says and (if it did present good evidence) make a change in your diet.
The trouble with many animal studies is that they feed the rats ONLY the food being tested, not a balanced diet that includes that food. This can produce results that don’t apply to humans who eat the food as 5% of their diet. So I try to find out exactly what was done in a study before I make any changes based on it.
That said, I’ve always been turned off by Egg Beaters because they are so heavily engineered. If you believe a food is bad for you, just eat LESS of it and substitute a different FOOD–don’t eat weird fake foods! Scientists try to take out the parts they think are bad and leave in the parts they think are good, but they’re not perfect, and these manipulations can have unintended consequences.
yep it really saddens me to see some old ladies putting this stuff into their grocery cart…
but after working with a few clients recently (I just started my nutrition practice, yay!!!) people just DO NOT KNOW stuff about foods, and they have lots of AHA moments when I explain it to them..education is the key here, great you have this site Sarah!!
Congrats on opening your new practice. How did you go about getting training? I would love to be a real foods nutritionist so that I can teach people about real foods. Do you have any advice that you may be able to give to me? I’d really appreciate it.
Unfortunately, I have to travel an hour each way to get good eggs that are not from grain fed chickens and they cost me almost $6 per dozen, but I won’t eat anything else!
makes me feel so much better watching my 2 year old devouring a bowl of oatmeal (old-fashioned with milk and dried apples bit) and 2 eggs for breakfast 😀 She was hungry 🙂
Wow, I’m impressed! Not sure I could eat quite that much for breakfast. Reminds me of one of my little sisters! She’s known to eat up to 4 lard-fried pastured eggs at a time. 😀