# Eating raw eggs to bulk up **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 19, 2023, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038 "2023-02-19T15:08:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CastletonSnob1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@CastletonSnob1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CastletonSnob1)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/1 "2023-02-19T15:08:44Z")
I’m sure you’ve seen movies or cartoons where a character cracks open a bunch of eggs into a pitcher and drinks them to bulk up. How did eating raw eggs even become a thing? I know eggs are high in protein, but how does eating them raw supposedly make you bulk up better/faster than eating them cooked? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/2 "2023-02-19T15:14:56Z")
I assume because it’s a lot easier to drink down raw eggs than to cook them? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/3 "2023-02-19T15:16:03Z")
I’m not sure how it benefits one to eat raw rather than cooked, bulking-up wise, but I would surmise that whatever benefits can be had are way outweighed by the health risk of salmonella, etc. ---
**Author:** ![CastletonSnob1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@CastletonSnob1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CastletonSnob1)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/4 "2023-02-19T15:17:05Z")
I would think you would lose your gains from being sick with salmonella, too. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/5 "2023-02-19T15:21:05Z")
[https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/128/10/1716/4723080](https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/128/10/1716/4723080) > The true ileal digestibility of cooked and raw egg protein amounted to 90.9 ± 0.8 and 51.3 ± 9.8%, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/6 "2023-02-19T15:28:36Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I assume because it’s a lot easier to drink down raw eggs than to cook them? It’s an old-school protein shake. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/7 "2023-02-19T15:33:24Z")
Right, nowadays, protein powder is widely available but may not have been in decades past. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/8 "2023-02-19T15:39:13Z")
[Handling eggs safely to prevent Salmonella](https://extension.umn.edu/preserving-and-preparing/handling-eggs-prevent-salmonella#:~:text=The%20Centers%20for%20Disease%20Control,eggs%20are%20contaminated%20with%20Salmonella). > The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 1 in every 20,000 eggs are contaminated with _Salmonella_ So if that risk is independent (probably not, but it makes for a good initial estimate) and you ate ten raw eggs every day, at the end of year you’d have about a 17% chance of catching salmonella. 1-(1- 1/20000)^3652.5 I think you might gain more than you lost, on average. (The risks will be different in different countries, because salmonella is treated very different by various food safety groups. I wasn’t able to find good data per-egg outside if the US, though.) ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/9 "2023-02-19T15:50:56Z")
Salmonella is just weakness being rejected by the body! ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/10 "2023-02-19T15:55:06Z")
Not the best way to get protein from eggs. > One study, published in The Journal of Nutrition, found that the availability of egg protein is 91% with cooked eggs and only 50% with raw eggs. That means a raw egg would only provide 3 grams of digestible protein [https://www.eggnutritioncenter.org/articles/nutritional-benefits-cooked-vs-raw-eggs](https://www.eggnutritioncenter.org/articles/nutritional-benefits-cooked-vs-raw-eggs) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/11 "2023-02-19T15:59:04Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > ’m not sure how it benefits one to eat raw rather than cooked, bulking-up wise, but I would surmise that whatever benefits can be had are way outweighed by the health risk of salmonella, etc. > [@CastletonSnob1](#): > > I would think you would lose your gains from being sick with salmonella, too. Eggs used to be considered sterile unless the shell had been cracked. That doesn’t work if the chickens’ oviducts are infected; which either used to be very uncommon, or at least used to be thought to be very uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/12 "2023-02-19T16:05:45Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > I assume because it’s a lot easier to drink down raw eggs than to cook them? > > It’s an old-school protein shake . The first time I ever heard about drinking raw eggs was seeing Rocky Balboa do it in the first _Rocky_ film. Drinking eggs was the kind of gym wisdom that an old timer like his trainer, Mickey, would have picked up in the 1940s and imparted to young guys like Rocky. Nothing really based on studies or firm science. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/13 "2023-02-19T16:17:42Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > The true ileal digestibility of cooked and raw egg protein amounted to 90.9 ± 0.8 and 51.3 ± 9.8%, respectively. I was going to ask for a TL;DR version in my caffeine-deficient state. Then I saw this: > [@Charlie\_Tan](#): > > One study, published in The Journal of Nutrition, found that the availability of egg protein is 91% with cooked eggs and only 50% with raw eggs. That means a raw egg would only provide 3 grams of digestible protein So it’s better to eat them cooked. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/14 "2023-02-19T16:30:56Z")
You can also buy pasteurized eggs if you have any concern. But, as mentions, the bioavailability of protein is less than cooked eggs. On the other hand, it’s quicker and more convenient. On the other other hand, as mentioned, we have protein powders for this now. (I eat raw eggs without a second thought, but only have them several times a year, usually on steak tartare.) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/15 "2023-02-19T17:05:08Z")
It was just part of the process to toughen up the fighter. That toughness is sometimes called ‘intestinal fortitude’, the result of drinking a dozen raw eggs for breakfast explains how that term arose. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/16 "2023-02-19T17:21:41Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > The first time I ever heard about drinking raw eggs was seeing Rocky Balboa do it in the first _Rocky_ film. _Rocky_ was released in 1976. _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_ released in 1975 mentions “swallow raw eggs” as a bodybuilding activity, so presumably it was a common trope. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/17 "2023-02-19T18:02:30Z")
Every year, between Christmas and New Years we make several batches of real egg nog. It’s a very old family recipe, and it’s so popular I’ve begun to think we get invited to parties just because people want us to bring the nog (seriously, we probably end up making 5-6 batches every year). The alcohol is about 12% by volume. Two decades on and nobody has ever got sick (And yes, I know it’s an anecdote; I also think people worry way too much) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/18 "2023-02-19T19:44:46Z")
I would have assumed that much alcohol is enough to kill salmonella. Hmm, it’s harder than i expected to find how long salmonella survives in what concentration of alcohol, but this study > **[Survival of foodborne pathogenic bacteria (Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli...](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24674433/)** > > Only limited information is available on the microbiological safety of fermented alcoholic beverages because it is still a common belief that such beverages do not provide a favorable environment for bacterial growth and survival. Thus, in this... Suggests that while other pathogens survive in beer and rice wine, salmonella maybe doesn’t. Hmm, this article says it take 3 weeks in the fridge for salmonella die in eggnig that’s 20% alcohol. Salmonella contamination isn’t very common. Maybe you’ve just been lucky. > **[Why Aged Eggnog Made With Raw Eggs Is Safer Than Drinking It Fresh](https://www.forbes.com/sites/nadiaarumugam/2013/12/20/why-aged-eggnog-made-with-raw-eggs-is-safer-than-drinking-it-fresh/)** > > A rich, creamy brew of eggs, sugar, spices combined with a mélange of dairy products and a considerable dose of hooch might just get your gustatory juices flowing this holiday season. But, if this same brew was left to sit in the fridge for... ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/19 "2023-02-19T19:48:17Z")
But i agree about generally not worrying about eating raw eggs. I routinely eat runny eggs, and I’m pretty sure they haven’t been heated enough to be sterilized. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2023, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038/20 "2023-02-19T20:53:15Z")
Documentary evidence of _something_: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7KxSPxsRNh4/hqdefault.jpg "That '70s Show - Kelso's allergy") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KxSPxsRNh4) Then skip to 1:10 for the results. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-raw-eggs-to-bulk-up/980038.md?page=2)