We know from our previous post named different ways to cook eggs that there are so many ways you can cook eggs. In this post we will give a solution to a frequently asked question which is, do fried eggs have more health benefit than poached eggs?
For many people in the world, the two types of cooked eggs namely fried eggs and poached eggs are very popular. Some people like poached eggs very much. They want it with every breakfast. On the other hand, fried eggs are also popular all over the world. Both of the processes offers health benefits. But, which one is better? We will discuss and clarify it throughout this article.
You may like to head our other post on the health benefits of poached eggs during your pregnancy and know more about this super food.
In this article, we will explore and find out which type is healthier from these two types of cooked eggs.
Health Benefits of Eating Eggs Everyday
Are you looking for something that can easily add a good amount of health value in your daily meal? Then you can go for eggs undoubtedly. Egg is such a food which covers all the nutritive need of the body.
It is called ‘super food’.
If we add eggs in our everyday diet then the following benefits we can have:
1. Nutritive elements
- Eggs are enriched with vitamins, protein, fat, antioxidants, omega 3 fatty acid, cholesterol etc.
- Vitamins: There are multiple vitamins in egg. Like vitamin A, vitamin B2, vitamin B12, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K.
- Protein: There are ovalbumin, ovotransferrin, ovomucoid, ovomucin, and lysozyme in egg white. Egg white contain more protein compared to egg yolk.
- Fat: There are two types of fat. Saturated and unsaturated. Unsaturated fat is considered to be the best for a healthy diet. Eggs contain unsaturated fat mostly.
- Antioxidants: Oxidative damage causes cancers, and cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. If we include antioxidants in our food habit then we can prevent such damages. Egg is a good source of antioxidants. It contains antioxidant like lutein and zeaxanthin.
- Omega 3 fatty acid: Eggs are enriched with three types of Omega 3 fatty acid. Alpha-linolenic (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA). Omega 3 fatty acid has many health benefits like: eye sight improvement, brain health promoting at childhood, curing heart diseases, improving mental disorder etc. Fishes are a great resource of this fatty acid. People who don’t like fish, can have eggs as substitute.
- Cholesterol: There are two type of cholesterol. HDL and LDL. HDl is considered as good cholesterol as it reduce the bad LDL level in blood. Eggs mostly contain HDL cholesterol and unsaturated fat. So eggs bear no harm to blood cholesterol level.
2. Health benefits
- Since fresh egg is a super food and having almost all kind of essential nutrients, so, it provides many health benefits. Some are mentioned below:
- Fresh Eggs contribute to prevent heart disease because it has choline. Choline breaks down amino acid. Again for diabetic patients egg is a heart friendly diet.
- Since eggs are low at carbohydrates they are very good for diabetic patients.
During pregnancy the amino acid, folic acid contained in egg helps a lot in baby’s growth, brain development etc. - Egg is also beneficial to eyesight. The antioxidants of egg protect eyes from various problems and clear vision.
- Egg is very high resource of protein. So it can keep your muscle strong and body fit. Since protein is the basic component of most of the body elements.
- Since egg contains choline, it serves brain food.
Because of so many nutrients, egg is a great source of energy. - Egg can play an important role for losing your weight. Because it is capable of reducing the calorie that we have through our diet.
3. Available and affordable
- Egg is such a food which is very available near at your hand. You can get this high protein food at a very low cost.
- So there is no big deal to add eggs in your daily diet. It is very easy to prepare, very affordable and available as well.
- Eggs can be prepared in so many ways. Some basic ways that can be easily adopted in your daily food habit are scrambled egg, boiled egg, fried egg, poached egg etc.
Do Fried Eggs Have the Same Health Benefit as Poached Eggs?
Difference between the Cooking Processes of Fried and Poached Eggs:
Cooking process: Fried egg is prepared by cracking the egg into a cup, scrambling it then pouring it into the pan where oil is bubbling. On the other hand poached egg is prepared by breaking an egg directly on the pan with hot steamed water.
Temperature issue: Fried eggs are cooked at high temperature which adds toxin to the egg. This leads to inflammation, diseases like diabetes, heart disease etc. At high temperature the nutrient elements can be reduced. Again poached egg is prepared at lower temperature so such unhealthy issues doesn’t occur. The nutritive value of the egg doesn’t decrease. But the steamed water can reduce nutrients like xanthophylls.
Health benefits:
- Calories: Fried eggs require butter, oil, cream etc. All these things increase fat and calories. On the other hand poached egg includes lower level of calories during cooking because it is cooked in steamed water only. No oil, butter, cream are added. But there is 143 per 100 gm calories in poached egg and 196 per 100 gm calories for fried egg.
- Protein: Protein is very important for growth of human body. It is the basic element of bone, muscles, blood etc. A poached egg has 13 gm protein per 100 gm whereas a fried egg has 14 gm protein per 100 gm.
- Cholesterol: There is 401 mg cholesterol per 100 gm in a fried egg. For poached egg the amount is 370 mg.
- Minerals: Egg contains mineral also. The mineral which lies in egg at a large extent is phosphorus. Phosphorus is effective for bone, DNA etc. For poached egg the amount is 9.5% per 100 gm. and for fried egg it is 10% per 100 gm.
- Micronutrients: Egg carries micronutrients like zinc. Zinc helps to prevent inflammation, age related diseases etc. Zinc is essential for various functions of body like growth, immune function, DNA synthesis etc. Pouched egg and fried egg has 1.29mg and 1.39 mg zinc per 100 g of daily diet.
- Vitamins: Poached egg can provide 10% vitamin A , 5% vitamin B-6 and 20% vitamin D of your daily nutrients where the values for fried egg is 15% vitamin A , 10% vitamin B-6 and 22% vitamin D. Vitamin A is good for eyesight and vitamin D is useful in immune system.
Weight loss: Poached egg is beneficial to lose your weight. But fried egg adds extra fat in body as it includes oil, butter, cream etc. All these things help to gain you weight. The calorie is also low in poached egg. Too much calorie is not good for weight. So those who are conscious about their body weight should go for poached egg.
Healthier cooking process: Depending on the cooking process the health value increases or decreases.
Cooking fried egg in healthy way: Since butter, oil, cream, cheese add extra fat in the egg so you can avoid these ingredients. You can use some healthy element for frying. Olive oil can serve best in this regard.
Poaching eggs in healthy way: Since poached egg is prepared in hot steamed water, so there is no oil issue. To cook it in more healthy way, the yellow portion can be popped up. Then the fat value and cholesterol level will decrease and the egg will be healthier.
To poach an egg, you may need to have an egg poacher to do it perfectly. Here is an article on top features that help you to choose an electric egg poacher.
Since fried egg contain oil, butter, cream and it is cooked at high temperature that’s why it is considered less healthy compared to poached egg. Because the extra oil, butter, cream, cheese will increase the fat level of your diet.
Again it is an issue that at high temperature, its protein, amino acid, and other nutrients spoiled to a great extent.
For loose your heavy weight fried egg should not your choice at all. Rather you should prefer poached egg. Because it has low calorie and at the same time doesn’t need any additive fat element.
That’s why it is viewed that fried egg is comparatively less healthy than poached egg.
The discussed the differences between a fried egg poached egg in terms of health benefit.