Eggs: A Good Source of Protein

Eggs contain a good source of HBV (high biological value) proteins. Proteins are necessary for growth, maintenance and repair. This protein comes from animal sources. Eggs are an excellent source of protein, iron and phosphorous. Eggs are also yolk-rich source of Vitamin A, D and B (little or no C). Egg yolks are known to contain vitamin A which functions are to ensure good vision and normal growth and development. The egg yolk also contains vitamin D. This helps a person’s body utilize calcium. Besides vitamin A and D, egg yolks contain a small amount of vitamin E. This vitamin promotes healthy cell membranes.

Protein is essential for building and repairing body tissues. Muscles, organs, skin, hair as well as antibodies, enzymes, and hormones are all made from protein. Protein is composed of 20 different amino acids. There are 9 essential amino acids that the body cannot make, and so they must come from foods. Eggs are one of the few foods considered to be a complete protein because they provide all nine essential amino acids.

Eggs are a fantastic food that contains a huge number of vitamins and minerals that are required by the body for optimal health and growth. They are also an excellent and affordable source of protein, which is needed to provide essential amino acids to the body.

One large hard-boiled egg only contains 78 calories and 5.3g of fat, with only 1.6 of those grams of fat being saturated fat, which are not good for the body and can lead to cardiovascular heart diseases. The level of cholesterol in egg yolk is high (212mg in 1 large hard-boiled egg); however recent research has discovered that the level of cholesterol contained in a food, has little significance to the amount of cholesterol contained in a person’s blood.

From the information above, I now know the different amount of nutrients present in an egg. Relating to my coursework question, I also know that there are different groups of people who should consume egg as a part of their meals because of the importance of these nutrients.

Who should consume them?

1. Teenagers are advised to consume eggs because at their age, their muscles and body goes through puberty changes. They also require sufficient proteins present in their food intake to give them energy. It is necessary to consume protein as it is mainly relied for growth.
2.  Growing children are prone to sickness easily. At a young age, diseases and virus attack them easily. Eggs contain vitamin B6 (pyridoxine). This vitamin helps to fight infection and maintains a healthy nervous system. Like teenagers, HBV proteins in eggs are necessary to fuel the growth of children.
3. Body-builders are a group of people who consume eggs a lot because eggs are cheap but a very good source of HBV protein necessary to build up strong muscles for them.
4. Lactating women can consume eggs because there are HBV proteins available in egg for nursing babies and iron to replace blood loss in lactating women. There is calcium in an egg which works with other nutrients like vitamin D and Phosphorus for the formation of strong bones and teeth. This should also be helpful for pregnant women. Calcium is required for blood clot after an injury. Vitamin A, D and E are present in the egg yolk. These vitamins are essential in a lactating woman. These nursing mothers are providing milk during breast-feeding to their babies and the vitamins present will help the babies’ immune system. It will help prevent diseases and maintain a healthy immune system.
5. Ova-vegetarians should also consider egg as a part of their meals because it gives HBV proteins besides eating complementary proteins from a variety of vegetables and grains. It also help gives another HBV proteins alternative to soy products. Eggs give different sensory appeal especially flavor and texture than plant food sources. Fried eggs like sunny-side up eggs can be crispy at the white edges and softly liquid in the yolk. I am sure vegetarians will appreciate the different sensory appeal of eggs instead of relying totally on plant sources.

I didn’t include the elderly group because eggs are high in cholesterol. At their crucial age, they should consume lesser cholesterol value food as high cholesterol may result in heart diseases like high blood cholesterol and hypertension.

• Chicken eggs – A food commodity that is easily available in the supermarket. It is also cheap with a dozen eggs going for as low as $1.30 and has many uses. For example, I can use eggs in cake baking. I can also use its egg yolk for glazing curry puffs. I can even consider making custard or boiling an egg to garnish my dishes for example in salad.
• Quail eggs – I may consider quail eggs apart from chicken eggs. I can find these types of eggs easily in wet markets and supermarkets. It is not expensive. Quail Eggs are much smaller than chicken eggs, but the flavor is similar. Five quail eggs are equal to one chicken egg. The shells are speckled and range in color from dark brown to blue or white. Quail eggs are often hard-boiled and served as a garnish, or accompaniment for salads.

I will not likely consider using Organic eggs because they are expensive. Eggs like century eggs, salted eggs and duck eggs – I didn’t want to experiment with these eggs as a part of my Practical Exam because I am not use to handling this type of eggs and I fear that my Practical exam might be a failure.

There are many ways to prepare an egg dish. The notes below come from my Secondary Three notes on the food commodity of eggs and its different ways of preparing it. After reading this section, I have a clearer understanding on how to prepare egg dishes. It has broadened my mindset that besides frying and scrambling an egg, eggs can also be prepared by other methods. Eggs can also be used as a glaze, garnish and leavening agent.

Conclusion

I feel that I have fulfilled to meet the task requirements of the coursework given which I have heavily discussed above. I have researched in depth about the topic ‘eggs’ and the minerals present in it. I have also discussed the importance of eggs for the different group of people.

Although along the completion of my coursework, I had some difficulties like I couldn’t manage to find relevant resources in the website, I managed to overcome these short term problems whilst finding rather close information from the cook books. My friends were able to provide me with past year notes so as to relate more into this task question. Initially, I also had difficulty in doing decision making because I didn’t know what dish to choose and what would be appropriate for me to cook so that I could fulfill my task question. Luckily, with the help of the Internet and also advice given by my friends and teacher, I overcome the problem within half a day and thus, time is saved through the process.

In the section research and development, it was very difficult finding the relevant information and it got quite frustrating at certain times but I took on my own initiative to check up on more websites as well as making a trip down to the library just to search for the information.

I find that my practical exams a little unsatisfactory due to its outcome (mainly my Cr�me Brule Custard). However, I have tried really hard to cover up my mistakes with pouring caramel and decorating my dish with strawberries. This could be due to my nervousness on the day of the practical exam as it is the first major exam for me.

Overall, I am quite satisfied with my coursework as I have finished them on time and my dishes turned out fine. Besides all these, I have learnt new knowledge through the process and benefited greatly from this.