# Allergic to Eggs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 29, 2003, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allergic-to-eggs/185077 "2003-06-29T02:08:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gypsymoth3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@gypsymoth3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gypsymoth3)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allergic-to-eggs/185077/1 "2003-06-29T02:08:12Z")
my niece is allergic to eggs, but not to stuf with eggs cooked in them (such as bread, cake, cookies, french toast, etc.). but why? is there a certain chemical in eggs that some people are allergic to that gets made into some kind of compound that doesn’t affect them? my grandma said my uncle was allergic to eggs when he was little too. is this a common baby thing? i know some babies are lactose intolerant but then outgrow it. will they outgrow this too? when? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allergic-to-eggs/185077/2 "2003-06-29T02:13:16Z")
Allergies are responses to certain proteins, chemicals whose structure are critical to their chemical functioning. Cooking completely alters the structure of the proteins that makes up eggs (a process called _denaturing_), and therefore alters our body’s reponse to them. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allergic-to-eggs/185077/3 "2003-06-29T02:48:45Z")
But it’s not like gm3’s niece tried eating _raw_ eggs, is it? Whether fried, poached, hard-boiled, or baked in an angel food cake, aren’t the protein allergins being denatured? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allergic-to-eggs/185077/4 "2003-06-29T02:52:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AWB \* > \*\*But it’s not like gm3’s niece tried eating _raw_ eggs, is it? > > Whether fried, poached, hard-boiled, or baked in an angel food cake, aren’t the protein allergins being denatured? \*\* Yep. It’s the heat that does it, by breaking the weak hydrogen bonds that hold a protein in it’s particular shape. It doesn’t matter a bit what form the heat takes. Depending on which protein is responsible, less-than-thorough cooking may elicit a response. ---
**Author:** ![gypsymoth3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@gypsymoth3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gypsymoth3)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allergic-to-eggs/185077/5 "2003-06-29T03:07:43Z")
but plain cooked eggs (scrambled, boiled) break her out too. ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allergic-to-eggs/185077/6 "2003-06-29T04:28:53Z")
Have your sister or brother (the niece’s parent) ask the doctor what the heck is up with this. If the parents haven’t been told exactly what she is allergic to, how can they prevent her from eating that? My sister doesn’t like to eat breakfast egg dishes (scrambled, boiled) but she’s okay with quiche and custards. It could be, in the sister’s case, a sensitivity. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allergic-to-eggs/185077/7 "2003-06-29T05:47:01Z")
Maybe its psychological. ---
**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allergic-to-eggs/185077/8 "2003-06-29T11:26:26Z")
> [@](#): > > but plain cooked eggs (scrambled, boiled) break her out too. Both of these methods of cooking _can_ (some would say should!) leave some of the egg undercooked. Perhaps that’s why they affect your niece? Julie ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allergic-to-eggs/185077/9 "2003-06-29T11:47:04Z")
From [this page:](http://www.foodallergyinitiative.org/section_home.cfm?section_id=3&sub_section_id=2) > [@](#): > > Some egg-allergic children can eat well-cooked egg (in cake, for example) without any ill effects - but not raw or lightly cooked egg. Others are allergic even to egg which has been well cooked. As an aside, they talk of MMR injections cultured from eggs, but I’ve been told by my doctor that 'flu injections are to. One of the first questions I’m always asked is whether I have an egg allergy (in my case, no.) ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allergic-to-eggs/185077/10 "2003-06-29T13:14:02Z")
I don’t know if it’s common, but a former girlfriend of mine is severely allergic to eggs. She used to only react when ingesting a relatively large quantity of eggs (say a whole egg), and the consequences were (relatively) mild. But once, she had a much more serious allergic reaction and ended up in the hospital for a week or so. Since then, she became more and more allergic to anything which included eggs, even traces of them (and mind you, there’s a lot of foodstuff which contain eggs). So, though, I’m absolutely not qualified to answer medical questions, I would suspect that your niece could outgrown this allergy, as some kids do when they grow up, or, like in my girlfriend’s case, it could become worst with time (it became only really a serious issue when she was in her 20’s). As someone already told you, her parents should point out this allergy if their daughter has to receive shots. Many vaccines are cultivated in eggs, and in my girlfriend case (which allegedly is much more severe than in your niece case, but it costs nothing to tell the MD about it anyway), she’s been told not to be shot at least twice (but I can’t remember which vaccines were potentially harmful to her) ---
**Author:** ![Yuki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@Yuki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yuki)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/allergic-to-eggs/185077/11 "2003-06-29T15:13:06Z")
I’m not sure if I’m technically allergic…but whenever I eat an egg (scrambled, boiled, etc) I get REALLY ill to my stomach. But when they’re mixed into a cake mix or some other mix, I’m perfectly fine. I always found that odd, especially since I make sure the eggs are cooked well.