The CDC and other public health organizations will advise you to
thoroughly cook your eggs to lower the risk of salmonella, but
eating eggs RAW is actually the best in terms of your health. While
this may sound like a scary proposition for many, it's important to
realize that salmonella risk comes from chickens raised in
unsanitary conditions. These conditions are the norm for CAFO's, but
are extremely rare for small organic farms. In fact, one study by
the British government found that 23 percent of farms with caged
hens tested positive for
salmonella, compared to just over 4 percent in organic flocks
and 6.5 percent in free-range flocks.
So, as long as you're getting fresh pastured eggs, your risk of
getting ill from a raw egg is quite slim. According to a study by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture, of the 69 billion eggs produced
annually in the United States, some 2.3 million are contaminated
with Salmonella—equivalent to just one in every 30,000 eggsi.
While eggs are often one of your most
allergenic foods, I believe this is because they are typically
cooked too much. Heating the egg protein actually changes its
chemical shape, and this distortion can easily lead to allergies. If
you consume your eggs in their raw state, the incidence of
egg allergy virtually disappears. I also believe eating eggs raw
helps preserve many of the highly perishable nutrients such as
lutein and zeaxanthin, which are powerful prevention elements for
age-related macular degeneration, which is the most common cause of
blindness.
Fresh raw egg yolk actually tastes like vanilla, in my opinion.
The egg white is usually what most people object to when they say
they don't like the texture of raw egg. If this is an issue,
consider discarding the egg white, or simply blend the whole raw egg
into a shake or smoothie. Personally, I eat just the raw egg yolks—I
have four nearly every morning. I remove the whites because it's
just too much protein for my challenged kidneys. Beware of consuming
raw egg whites without the yolks as raw egg whites contain
avidin, which can bind to biotin. If you cook the egg white
the avidin is not an issue. Likewise, if you consume the whole raw
egg (both yolk and egg white) there is more than enough biotin in
the yolk to compensate for the avidin binding.
If you choose not to eat your eggs (or just egg yolk) raw,
soft-boiled would be your next best option. Scrambling your eggs is
one of the worst ways to eat eggs as it actually oxidizes
the cholesterol in the egg yolk. If you have high cholesterol this
may actually be a problem for you as the oxidized cholesterol may
cause some damage in your body.
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