Eating raw eggs is not as beneficial as many people assume. Your body absorbs only about 74% of the protein in a raw egg, compared to 94% from a cooked one. That means roughly a quarter of the protein you’re drinking in a raw egg shake passes through your system unused. Beyond the protein loss, raw eggs carry a real risk of Salmonella infection and can interfere with the absorption of certain nutrients.
Why Cooked Eggs Deliver More Protein
The idea that raw eggs are a superior protein source has persisted for decades, fueled partly by movies and gym culture. But the science points in the opposite direction. Cooking changes the structure of egg proteins in a way that makes them far easier for your digestive enzymes to break down. When you eat a cooked egg, your body puts nearly all of that protein to use. With a raw egg, about a quarter of the protein resists digestion and leaves your body without contributing anything.
For someone eating two or three eggs a day as a protein source, that gap adds up. If each large egg contains around 6 grams of protein, cooking means you absorb roughly 5.6 grams per egg. Eating it raw drops that to about 4.4 grams. Over a week, that’s a meaningful difference if you’re relying on eggs as a primary protein source for muscle building or recovery.
The Biotin Problem
Raw egg whites contain a protein called avidin that binds to biotin (vitamin B7) with extraordinary strength. This bond is actually the strongest non-covalent bond found in nature, and it’s resistant to digestive enzymes. That means when avidin latches onto biotin in your gut, the vitamin passes through without being absorbed.
In practical terms, a whole raw egg is less of a concern than eating large quantities of raw whites alone. The biotin naturally present in the yolk roughly offsets the avidin in the white, so eating a whole raw egg here and there is unlikely to cause a deficiency. But if you’re regularly consuming raw egg whites in smoothies or protein shakes while discarding the yolk, you could be setting yourself up for a biotin shortfall over time. Biotin deficiency shows up as hair thinning, brittle nails, and skin rashes. Cooking egg whites deactivates avidin completely, eliminating this concern.
Salmonella Risk Is Small but Real
The most immediate health risk from raw eggs is Salmonella, a type of bacteria that can contaminate the egg before the shell even forms. Salmonella Enteritidis infects the ovaries of hens, meaning the bacteria can be inside a perfectly clean, uncracked egg. You can’t see, smell, or taste it.
Most commercial eggs in the United States are not contaminated, and the odds of any single egg carrying Salmonella are low. But outbreaks still happen with regularity. A June 2025 outbreak linked to cage-free and organic eggs from a single California supplier sickened 134 people across 10 states, hospitalized 38, and killed one person. Environmental testing at the laying houses confirmed Salmonella strains matching the outbreak. These events are a reminder that even eggs marketed as premium or organic carry the same bacterial risks.
Salmonella infection typically causes diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps that start 6 to 72 hours after exposure and last four to seven days. Most healthy adults recover without treatment, but the infection can become dangerous for young children, adults over 65, pregnant women, and anyone with a weakened immune system, including people with diabetes, cancer, or HIV/AIDS, and organ transplant recipients.
Pasteurized Eggs: A Safer Raw Option
If you genuinely prefer raw eggs in smoothies, homemade dressings, or other recipes, pasteurized eggs solve the safety problem without changing much else. Pasteurization rapidly heats eggs to a temperature that destroys Salmonella without cooking the egg itself. The USDA confirms that pasteurized eggs retain the same color, flavor, nutritional value, and function as unpasteurized ones.
Pasteurized shell eggs are available in many grocery stores (look for a “P” stamp or a label indicating pasteurization). Liquid pasteurized egg products are even more widely available. The FDA specifically recommends using pasteurized eggs for any recipe where the egg won’t be fully cooked, like Caesar dressing, homemade mayonnaise, or protein shakes.
What You Actually Gain From Cooking
Cooking eggs doesn’t just reduce risk. It actively improves what you get from the food. Beyond the roughly 20% boost in protein absorption, heat also makes other nutrients in the egg more accessible. The process denatures proteins in a way that opens them up to your digestive enzymes, and it neutralizes avidin so your body can freely absorb biotin from the yolk.
The method of cooking matters less than the fact that you cook them at all. Scrambled, poached, boiled, or fried, the protein absorption rates are all dramatically higher than raw. If you’re concerned about preserving every possible nutrient, gentle cooking methods like poaching or soft-boiling minimize oxidation of the yolk’s fats and cholesterol while still giving you the full safety and absorption benefits.
The bottom line is straightforward: cooking an egg makes it safer, more nutritious in practice, and easier to digest. The raw egg tradition persists more from habit and myth than from any measurable advantage. If you choose to consume eggs raw for convenience or preference, using pasteurized eggs and eating the whole egg (not whites alone) minimizes the downsides, but you’ll still absorb less protein than you would from a simple scramble.