Are Egg Whites Vegan?

Written by Fasting Planet in Fasting

Last Updated on November 9, 2023 by Fasting Planet

Are Egg Whites Vegan?

According to a 2019 article from The Kitchn, Americans consume upwards of 300 eggs per year. Well, not if you’re a vegan, you don’t. Eggs are one food that’s off-limits on your diet, but does that include all parts of the egg, such as egg whites?

Egg whites or albumen are chicken byproducts and are not allowable on the vegan diet. Ovo-vegetarians and lacto-ovo-vegetarians can consume egg whites and other parts of the egg as well.

What’s the difference between an egg white and the rest of an egg? How do vegans maintain their nutrients and minerals by not eating eggs? In this article, we’ll answer all those questions and more, so make sure you keep reading!

What Are Egg Whites?

You’re surely familiar with eggs, or the zygotic vessel hatched from animals such as chickens, but what about what’s in the egg? It may all look the same when you crack an egg, but that’s far from the case.

If you ever watch chefs on TV or even on YouTube who pass the egg back and forth and then separate the components, what they’re doing is dividing the egg white from the rest of the egg. This is common in any recipes that call for egg whites specifically, such as meringues, granola, candied nuts, and pavlova.

What is an egg white? It’s the clear part of an egg. The egg white is also known as glair or albumen. Within the albumen is the yolk, which is the orange or yellow portion of an egg. Yolks are where most of the nutrition in eggs comes from whereas egg whites are there to safeguard the yolk. That’s why the yolk will always be part of the albumen.

Egg whites consist of secretion layers from the oviduct of a hen. An oviduct is an ovary passage that exits the hen’s body. In mammals, we refer to an oviduct as the Fallopian tube. The albumen is mostly water, roughly 90 percent. What remains of the egg white are proteins such as globulins, mucoproteins, and albumins.

Globulins are globular proteins that don’t dissolve in water. They include alpha 1 globulins, alpha 2 globulins, beta globulins, and gamma globulins. Mucoproteins are a mucopolysaccharide-heavy glycoprotein that’s in the knees’ synovial fluid, our airways, reproductive organs, and our gastrointestinal tract.

That brings us to albumins, which is not to be confused with albumen. Albumin includes globular proteins that dissolve in water and are often located in our blood plasma.

Egg whites are low in carbs and fat. Most of the protein that comes from an egg, as much as 56 percent, is attributed to the egg white. Outside of its edibility, egg whites are a common ingredient in vaccines, although not the COVID-19 vaccines, but more like flu vaccines. That’s why those people with an egg allergy usually must forego these vaccines.

In one large egg that’s 33 grams, here are the nutrition facts for an egg white:

  • 17 calories
  • 1 grams of total fat
  • 0 grams of saturated fat
  • 0 grams of polyunsaturated fat
  • 0 grams of monounsaturated fat
  • 0 milligrams of cholesterol
  • 55 milligrams of sodium (2 percent of your recommended daily value)
  • 54 milligrams of potassium (1 percent of your recommended daily value)
  • 2 grams of carbs
  • 0 grams of dietary fiber
  • 2 grams of sugar
  • 6 grams of protein (7 percent of your recommended daily value)
  • 1 percent magnesium

The types of protein in an egg white include the following:

  • Cystatin – 0.05 percent
  • Avidin – 0.05 percent
  • Ovomacroglobulin – 0.5 percent
  • Flavoprotein – 0.8 percent
  • Ovoglycoprotein – 1 percent
  • Ovoinhibitor – 1.5 percent
  • Lysozyme – 3.4 percent
  • Ovomucin – 3.5 percent
  • Ovoglobulin G2 – 4 percent
  • Ovoglobulin G3 – 4 percent
  • Ovomucoid – 11 percent
  • Ovotransferrin – 12 percent
  • Ovalbumin – 54 percent

Are Egg Whites Vegan?

Eggs may not be meat, but they’re still disallowed on the vegan diet. If you’re not sure why that is, then you’re about to learn. Do be forewarned, the extent of animal cruelty that chickens experience so non-vegans can buy cartons of eggs is heartbreaking, but it’s something you must know regardless.

Chickens that are used for egg production are often kept on factory farms. Others live on what are known as free-range farms. Most free-range eggs are proudly labeled as such, but as you’ll see in a moment, free-range chickens don’t have a much better life than those on factory farms.

We’ll start with what happens to factory-farmed chickens. Each chicken has a very small enclosure to live in. There’s barely enough room for the chicken to move because that’s not what their purpose is. The chicken is supposed to lay egg after egg and that’s it.

A factory farm will include many enclosures packed with chickens. The chickens don’t even see natural sunlight, as they’re exposed to artificial light sources that mimic the patterns a chicken needs to lay more eggs.

By the time the chicken turns 18 months old, she’s pretty much past her usefulness. Then she’ll meet the same fate that most male chickens meet far earlier, which is being slaughtered. Yes, the chicken is only a little over a year old and her life is already over. If she wasn’t on a factory farm, the chicken could have lived for at least eight years, maybe even 10 years.

Free-range farms give chickens the freedom to roam and see the sunlight, but this isn’t complete freedom. For many hours per day, the chickens are still stuffed into enclosures where they’re exposed to manipulating light patterns to force them into laying eggs.

The male chickens in free-range farms live for maybe 15 minutes. Yes, that’s minutes, not hours or months. The females’ lives are the same length as chickens in factory farms, which is roughly 18 months. Then she’s slaughtered for chicken meat. It’s just as cruel to free-range farm a chicken as it is to factory-farm them.

It doesn’t matter where your eggs are from or if they’re organic or not. They’re not vegan. That goes for all the parts of eggs too, including the yolk and the egg white or albumen. Do keep in mind that vegetarians might consume eggs, especially ovo-vegetarians and lacto-ovo-vegetarians. Vegans won’t though!

How Can Vegans Get the Nutrients, Minerals, and Vitamins in Eggs?

Eggs as a whole contain minerals and nutrients such as choline, selenium, iodine, folate, phosphorous, iron, vitamin A, vitamin B12, vitamin B5, vitamin E, vitamin D, and vitamin B2 or riboflavin. How do vegans keep their diet nutritionally balanced and still forego eggs? Here are some plant-based foods to prioritize instead.

Choline

The liver-produced nutrient choline maintains our memory, increases metabolism, and keeps our hearts beating steady and strong. As a vegan, you can ingest choline through foods like:

  • Wheat germ
  • Firm tofu
  • Squash
  • Dried sunflower seeds
  • Soymilk
  • Uncooked quinoa
  • Potatoes
  • Peanuts
  • Peanut butter
  • Oranges
  • Oats
  • Lentils
  • Ground flaxseed
  • Medjool dates
  • Brown rice
  • Brussels sprouts
  • Broccoli
  • Whole-wheat bread
  • Bananas
  • Apples
  • Almonds

Selenium

To avoid heart disease, selenium may be able to help. This mineral also increases your immune system, safeguards you from the effects of oxidative stress, and keeps your metabolism healthy. You won’t miss eggs when you can get selenium from these vegan foods:

  • Boiled lentils
  • Boiled kidney beans
  • Boiled black beans
  • Boiled chickpeas
  • Boiled great northern beans
  • Boiled lima beans
  • Boiled pinto beans
  • Soy milk
  • Firm tofu
  • Boiled soybeans
  • Pumpkin seeds
  • Pecans
  • Cashews
  • Walnuts
  • Ground flaxseed
  • Chia seeds
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Brazil nuts
  • Whole-wheat pita or whole-wheat bread
  • Brown rice
  • Pearl barley
  • Wheat germ
  • Couscous

Iodine

Although iodine is known for its inclusion in seafood, vegans can still maintain their thyroid health through iodine with foods such as:

  • Seaweed
  • Strawberries
  • Organic potatoes
  • Watercress
  • Spring greens
  • Kale
  • Courgettes
  • Green beans
  • Whole grains

Phosphorus

Phosphorus produces our teeth and bones. The mineral also oversees how the body manages fats and carbs. All protein in the body comes from phosphorus too, and the mineral can also fix up damaged tissues and cells, so it’s hugely important.

These vegan foods are rich in phosphorus:

  • Cooked quinoa
  • Cooked oatmeal
  • Bran flakes
  • Fortified soy products
  • Cooked tofu
  • Garbanzo beans
  • Cooked lentils
  • Cooked adzuki beans
  • Tempeh
  • Unshelled sunflower seeds
  • Unshelled pumpkin seeds

Vitamin A

With vitamin A, you can preserve your vision as well as the health of the organs in your body, from the kidneys to the lungs and heart. Vegans should eat these foods especially, as they contain vitamin A:

  • Spring greens
  • Cantaloupe
  • Kale
  • Dried apricots
  • Spinach
  • Carrot
  • Butternut squash
  • Sweet potato
  • Orange

Vitamin B2

Riboflavin or vitamin B2 metabolizes proteins and fats. The vitamin also helps the conversion process of carbs into glucose for energy. Try these vegan foods for more vitamin B2 in your diet:

  • Nutritional yeast
  • Mange-tout peas
  • Mushrooms
  • Wild rice
  • Almonds
  • Avocado
  • Fortified soy milk
  • Fortified breakfast cereals
  • Muesli
  • Quinoa

Vitamin D

Calciferol or vitamin D manages your phosphate and calcium levels so your muscles, teeth, and bones stay healthy. Sunshine is a natural source of vitamin D, but in the winter when the sun is sparse, incorporate these foods into your vegan meal plan:

  • Fortified rice milk
  • Fortified almond milk
  • Fortified orange juice
  • Fortified vegan cereal
  • Mushrooms
  • Fortified soy milk

You can also ask your doctor about vegan-safe supplements–or those without gelatin–that can keep you up-to-date on your minerals and nutrients.

Conclusion

Albumen or egg whites are not vegan just as egg yolks aren’t. The cruel treatment of chickens to unnaturally force out eggs is enough to turn vegans off eggs forever. Fortunately, all the minerals, nutrients, and vitamins in eggs are available in plant-based foods as well!

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