✕ COPEDiet
Raw Eggs for Skin & Testosterone
Cooked eggs are better absorbed than raw ones, and raw whites block biotin. The only thing raw adds is Salmonella exposure.
Also called: raw egg · drinking raw eggs · rocky eggs
Verdict — cope
The mechanism does not hold. Your time is better spent elsewhere.
Evidence grade B
At least one good randomised trial, or consistent findings across controlled studies.
Mechanism
Raw egg white contains avidin, which binds dietary biotin and prevents absorption; heat denatures it. Protein digestibility of cooked egg is ~91% versus ~51% raw.
Citations
- Digestibility of cooked and raw egg protein in humans as assessed by stable isotope techniquesJournal of Nutrition · 1998
- Biotin deficiency induced by raw egg white: a reviewAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 1985
The full read
This one is unusually easy to settle because the comparison has actually been measured with isotope-labelled egg protein: cooking nearly doubles the fraction you absorb. So the raw version is a worse version of the same food, and it carries the avidin problem — which is funny in context, given how many of the same feeds also sell biotin for hair. There is no controlled evidence that eggs in any form raise testosterone beyond correcting a dietary deficit. Salmonella risk is small per egg and not zero, and it is entirely avoidable by applying heat.
Photo: Raw egg.jpg by by jefras a.k.a Joăo Estęvăo A. de Freitas . "There are no usage restrictions for this photo." · Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
