The Most Outstanding Benefits of Egg Yolk
It’s always had a “bad reputation” and a food that many people recommended we should exclude from our daily diet. However, egg yolk has proved to have positive effects on our health, and its consumption is beneficial. Below, we’ll tell you all about its virtues.
The benefits of egg yolk
It’s worth mentioning that this is an affordable product and you can combine it with many other types of foods. This makes it an ideal ingredient for a large number of very nutritious recipes. Below, we’ll talk in more detail about the different reasons for which this food stands out.
Egg yolk and its nutrient composition
As we know, natural foods can offer a wide variety of nutrients. These different nutrients have different benefits to guarantee the optimal functioning of each part of the body.
These are the main groups of nutrients that we can find in egg yolk:
- Vitamins: the yolk contain vitamins A, E, D, B9 (folic acid), B12, B6, B2 and B1. It’s worth mentioning that it’s one of the foods with the highest content of vitamin D.
- Minerals: it contains iron, potassium, phosphorus and magnesium.
- Proteins: egg yolk provides a high amount of protein; this makes them a great food choice for when it comes to gaining muscle mass.
The “hidden” component in egg yolk
Do you know what choline is? It’s found in egg yolk and it’s an essential nutrient within the group of B vitamins. The main functions which it cooperates with, are memory and muscle control.
Choline is a very important element in the fight against diseases such as, Alzheimer’s and dementia. It also contributes to the synthesis of components that constitute the body’s cell membranes.
It’s generally an unknown and underestimated nutrient. However, its virtues are enormous, and it’s important that we meet its consumption requirements.
Other benefits of egg yolk
- It contains many healthy fats; more than 60 percent of them are unsaturated; which means they’re the good kind of fats.
- It provides very little cholesterol. Although it’s possible that people who have high cholesterol levels must restrict their consumption, they don’t need to eliminate it entirely. In fact, blood cholesterol levels increase due to saturated fats, which aren’t abundant in the egg yolk.
- It’s rich in lecithin. Lecithin is in charge of ‘bonding’ with cholesterol to prevent our body from absorbing it completely. In addition, it’s essential to care for our bone marrow, brain, liver, heart and nervous system.
- It contains lutein and zeaxanthin. These substances protect us from free radicals, which can cause heart disease and harden the walls of our blood vessels. They also work as antioxidants and prevent eye diseases.
Because of the benefits mentioned above, egg yolk is a very important food for your heart health, the proper functioning of the nervous system and the well-being of your muscles.
Raw or cooked?
Although many people usually eat egg yolks in smoothies or in other foods without cooking them, this isn’t the best idea. It’s always preferable to cook them first; otherwise, we may expose ourselves to infections such as salmonella. Besides, the properties of egg yolk doesn’t change after cooking.
Finally, it should be emphasized that including egg whites in your diet is also very healthy. The white doesn’t contain any fat, has almost no calories and provides you with many nutrients. So you don’t have to set the yolk aside to eat it separately.
So, you won’t lose anything by including egg whites in your diet too. Instead, you’ll supplement your recipes with a nutritious and even healthier ingredient than the yolk itself.
