Doubt with white of the egg...

[Justiniano]

I heard that the white of the eggs must be cooked for the body to make use of its proteins. I want to know if this asseveration is true.
Thanks.

 

[Marat]

I think I read in a study awhile back that heat treatment increased the availability of the proteins a bit --- probably because the proteins denature etc.

However, I wouldn't think it would make a big difference in practice.

 

[T_man]

While on this topic, denaturing a protein does not affect it's nutrition value does it? I mean if you cook something on a high heat it won't lose it's protein value will it

 

[Marat]

It doesn't affect the nutrition value. The denaturing process just disrupts the tertiary and sometimes the secondary structure of the protein. You are essentially unraveling the protein. The protein loses its function, but you're body digests the amino acids just fine.

 

[rayray715]

so is drinking raw eggs good or bad?

 

[Marat]

There isn't much harm to doing it.

I couldn't imagine that it would taste very good though.

 

[Built]

Avidin - an enzyme in raw egg-white - interferes with biotin absorption. Cooking, because of what M11 said, denatures this enzyme - meaning it loses its function as an enzyme and thus no longer interferes with the absorption of this nutrient.

That being said, you'd have to knock back a shit-tonne of egg-white for this to be a real problem. Bigger concerns would be the risk of salmonella, and of course, the icky taste.