Eggs or Chicken?

[manuva]

"All meat and other animal products are sources of complete proteins. These include beef, lamb, pork, poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs, milk, and milk products."

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002467.htm

I believe Rollo is referring to the Biological Availability (BA) of the protein in these various foods. He is right on all counts.

 

[Shiftkey]

Whey, eggs, and meat all contain the 9 essential amino acids, making them complete proteins. How is whey or eggs more complete than meat if they both contain the same amino acids?

Could you elaborate on Biological Availability? I googled it and came up with nothing, and there is no mention of it in my food/nutrition textbook.

 

[manuva]

BA refers to the amount of the protein that is actually processed by the body, rather than excreted.

Just because you eat (for example) 100g of protein doesn't mean the body will use it all. Some of it is always going to be ignored during the digestion process and finally excreted. A BA figure gives an indication of exactly how much of that 100g of protein is actually going to be utilised by the body - eggs are given a BA of 100 as they are extremely bio-available. From memory (don't quote me) most meats have a BA in the 70's or 80's. Plant protein is somewhat lower.

Due to advanced filtering techniques developed in recent years, some whey supplements can claim to have a BA of 130+.

Hope that helps.

 

[GropeDope]

I stay away from egg yolks for the most part because a couple members in my family had a history of high cholesterol. I'll usually only throw in an egg yolk maybe once or twice a week with my stack of whites but that's it. I know that the yolk has all the vitamins and higher contents of other nutrients than the whites do, but the fat and large amount of cholesterol just ain't worth it in my opinion.