In their study, the team took muscle biopsies, blood samples and amino acid levels from 10 young male subjects. The men were put through resistance training sessions and then ate either whole eggs or egg whites, each serving containing 18 grams of protein. Through the samples, the researchers were able to determine how effective the protein synthesis in muscles in each case.
The results were overwhelmingly in support of eating the whole egg as a source of muscle recovery and muscle building post-exercise. The scientists discovered that the protein synthesis response was 40 per cent higher in those consuming whole eggs.
"We saw that the ingestion of whole eggs immediately after resistance exercise resulted in greater muscle-protein synthesis than the ingestion of egg whites. This study suggests that eating protein within its most natural food matrix tends to be more beneficial to our muscles as opposed to getting one's protein from isolated protein sources," said Burd.
The team goes on to explain that yolks also house muscle building protein, along with other vital nutrients and chemical that assist in the muscle building process, elevating our body’s ability to absorb and effectively use the available protein.
