It’s funny how trends come back around, isn’t it? When you’re in your teens and discovering fashion, for instance, you treat it as a new thing even though those bell-bottoms and fringe leather jackets were big in the 70s and 80s.
Trends happen in the food world, too. The most recent one that caught my eye was putting raw eggs into smoothies for the protein boost. I was watching old footage of body builder Arnold Schwarzenegger and he was talking about his diet. He made one of his signature smoothies that featured fruits and a raw egg – shell and all.
This used to be a thing, eating raw eggs. And it appears the idea has made a resurgence.
Let’s examine this a little further.
An eggshell, the hard covering of an egg, is made up of calcium carbonate. They are roughly 40 per cent calcium which is why, historically, people used ground eggshells for calcium supplements. Eggshells also contain protein and minerals such as fluoride, strontium, magnesium, and selenium – all of which are said to play a role in bone health.
The membrane between the eggshell and the egg white – you’ll notice it when you peel a boiled egg – is said to be good for joint health.
The risks of eating eggshells are obvious. They must be ground into a find powder otherwise you could risk cutting your throat and esophagus. Even the best of blenders won’t necessarily grind eggshells to a fine powder when making a smoothie.
Eggshells also must be boiled as there is a possibility they could be contaminated with bacteria such as Salmonella enteritidis. Why does this happen? Because when a chicken lays an egg, it comes out the body through the same opening as a chicken’s poop.
So, based on this information alone, it’s not a good idea to throw a raw egg into the blender.
Onto the egg itself.
One egg contains three grams of protein, vitamins A, B2, B12, and E, choline (a mineral that’s tied into brain function), zeaxanthin and lutein, as well as antioxidants that help keep our eyes healthy. While nutritionists agree that heating up a raw egg does diminish the amount of nutrients it contains, the difference is negligible.
Furthermore, our bodies only absorb 50 percent of the protein in an egg when we eat it raw compared to 90 percent when we eat it cooked.
So the moral of the story: it’s much better to consume cooked eggs as opposed to raw in your smoothie. Use a good quality protein in your smoothies instead.
Apologies to Arnold Schwarzen-egg-er! (And for the bad pun!)