{"id":389664,"date":"2026-04-21T01:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T01:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/389664\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T01:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T01:26:11","slug":"why-you-should-add-eggs-to-your-protein-rotation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/389664\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Should Add Eggs to Your Protein Rotation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Poached. Fried. Soft-boiled. On sourdough or with fries. Give them to us however you got \u2018em. But is there a preferred window<\/a> to indulge in eggs from a fitness perspective? And should we really be skipping the yolk?<\/p>\n

It turns out, the science is rapidly changing in the world of eggs. Luckily, here our experts have dug down, scooping out the nutritional know-how you need to help you maximize your eggy intake.<\/p>\n

Why are eggs so good?<\/p>\n

\u201cI absolutely love eggs,\u201d says Nutritionist Dana Chapman<\/a>, who\u2019s presumably knocking off poached eggs for breakfast, lunch and dinner.<\/p>\n

Taste and versatility aside, Chapman is a fan of hen\u2019s jewels for their nutritional content. We\u2019re talking massive levels of choline\u2014a key nutrient needed for brain health and protective against conditions like Alzheimer\u2019s disease, as well as being integral in the production of neurotransmitters associated with motivation, sleep, and libido.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also packed with vitamin A, essential for reproduction, gut health<\/a>, good eye sight (see also: carrots), and healthy skin<\/a>. Eggs also provide your daily dose of selenium which helps protect our cells from damage.<\/p>\n

All of which is great, but most of us eat eggs with protein in mind. And with good reason. According to Drew Price, author of The Dodo Diet<\/a>, \u201cEggs score well on the two preferred protein quality measures the DIAAS and the PDCAAS, with all the essential and non-essential amino acids.\u201d You don\u2019t necessarily need to know what that means, only that that protein is found in both the yolk and the whites, so eat both.<\/p>\n

Crucially, Price says that eggs pack leucine, which is directly responsible for muscle protein synthesis<\/a>, and a cornerstone of growth and recovery, as well as helping regulate blood sugar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How much protein in eggs is there?<\/p>\n

Eggs are ace, but they aren\u2019t the be all and end all of getting swole. \u201cEggs pack a good source of protein and nutrients, but if you\u2019re keeping a close eye on macros, you might choose options such as fish, turkey, chicken and lean red meat,\u201d says Chapman, explaining that eggs pack 12.6g of protein per 100g, while 100g of turkey, for example, has 29g of protein.<\/p>\n

Price may also be a factor in choosing your preferred protein. \u201cThere are three things to keep in mind: cost per gram of protein, the grams of protein per calorie, and the quality of the protein,\u201d he says. \u201cIn terms of cost per gram of protein, and calories per gram of protein, tinned tuna is the perennial winner.\u201d<\/p>\n

How many eggs should I eat per day?<\/p>\n

With fears that eggs supercharge your bad cholesterol largely dismissed these days, the sky is really your limit, although Price says we haven\u2019t yet been able to pit man against egg in the ultimate test of endurance. (Gaston from Beauty and the Beast doesn’t count.)<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting ethics sign-off, funding and volunteers for a trial that involves eating 20 eggs a day would be challenging, so an upper end hasn’t been tested,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The science we do have is pretty inconclusive. One meta analysis<\/a> brought together numerous egg-based studies and found weak associations between greater consumption and some forms of cancer and heart diseases, but also potential protective effects.<\/p>\n

In other words, there are no real guidelines around your egg consumption. If you\u2019re opting for ostrich eggs you probably won\u2019t manage that many, though. And if you have hypercholesterolemia, you should be concious of your egg consumption.<\/p>\n

How do I get the most nutritional value from eggs?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first and most important thing here is to cook them,\u201d says Price. \u201cThe whole slamming raw eggs<\/a> and then the training montage is wrong. Eggs contain digestive enzyme inhibitors that will interfere with the digestion of the protein they contain. Cooking renders these inert.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Poached. Fried. Soft-boiled. On sourdough or with fries. Give them to us however you got \u2018em. But is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[5818,565,564,134,64873,111,139,556,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-389664","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-eating","9":"tag-fitness","10":"tag-food","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-life-advice","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nutrition","16":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}