does cooking change calories?

sslichenmyer

ok so a large egg that is scrambled is more calories than a large hard boiled egg?? this is what i am finding... a large hard boiled egg is coming out to be 77 calories but a large scrambled egg with no milk or fat added is 101.......


does the way you cook them have change the caloric value?


i figured it would all be the same

peachstategal

Interesting question! Can't wait to see replies.

fruitloop2

bumping...

moontyrant

it shouldn't. according to the laws of conservation, if you start with an egg of 70 calories, heat and pulverize it, it should still be 70 calories. i think MFP adds butter or oil to the scrambled egg because lots of people cook their eggs that way.

NancyStree

do you add any spray stuff? they may be accounting for that..not to sure though..lol...can't wait to see what others have to say...

970Mikaela1

Not unless you add something....like oil butter

ebdaily

I don't know the exact science behind it but when an egg is fried more of the fat in the egg renders which would increase the calorie count. The entry might also assume you are using either butter, oil or spray when frying it.

ebdaily

I don't know the exact science behind it but when an egg is fried more of the fat in the egg renders which would increase the calorie count. The entry might also assume you are using either butter, oil or spray when frying it.

Here's just one good article on the fat content:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/343588-nutrition-of-a-hard-boiled-egg-vs-a-fried-egg/

toddis

I use nutritiondata when this websites database is questionable.

It seems they are using slightly different size eggs in their calculations.
Scrambled is x-large(60g), whole raw is large(50g)

moontyrant

Good read, but it doesn't explain how there can be more calories in an egg depending on how it is heated. If I were to throw an egg sans butter or oil into a nonstick frying pan, why would it be more costly calorie wise than if i were to throw an egg in boiling water? Do you know where I can find some articles to explain this?

claytonmccord

Cooking actually starts the digestion process by breaking down some of the food before you eat it. This makes more of the energy available to your body. It also reduces the amount of energy it takes your body to digest the food.

autumnblade75

I don't know the exact science behind it but when an egg is fried more of the fat in the egg renders which would increase the calorie count. The entry might also assume you are using either butter, oil or spray when frying it.

Here's just one good article on the fat content:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/343588-nutrition-of-a-hard-boiled-egg-vs-a-fried-egg/

If the fat is rendered from the egg, it would have been included in the egg in the first place. What's the deal in the article where a fried egg has more iron? Where does it come from? Is that only if you cook in a cast iron skillet? (I know that cooking in cast iron is supposed to add iron to your food...) I don't trust the information because it was presented with no explanation for why the nutrition data is different for that egg.

When I fry an egg, I usually do it in bacon grease. I ate the bacon, too. I figure the grease that rendered out of the bacon ought to have been included in the calories for the bacon - so they're not "extra."

lithezebra

I've read that cooking, and other aspects of food preparation, do change the available calories of the food that we eat. For example, we supposedly get fewer calories out of whole almonds than they actually contain, because we don't fully digest them. Fiber is at least partially digested, and is not free of calories, even though they aren't counted on labels or by MFP. Different people might even get different amounts of calories out of the same foods because of varying physiology and gut flora.

Food is complicated. I always consider MFP's numbers to be approximate.

toddis

100g for all:

Fried 196 15g fat
Boiled 155 11g fat
Poached 142 10g fat
Scrambled 167 12g fat
Raw 143 10g fat

I'm assuming there is a slight variance in eggs and that an egg with no fat added has between 10-11g of fat in it.
It is assumed other cooked types have fats added during cooking?


ooh and this

"They don't change, though bioavailability of protein is increased by cooking.

The nutritional information is in grams, so a cooked egg will liberate some waters, meaning 50 grams uncooked will contain slightly less than 50 grams cooked, but the macronutrient content in one egg will stay the same, though it might lose a bit of weight depending on cooking method. " random forum post elsewhere that sort of makes sense?

Terri552

Why does a Boiled Grade A Large Egg have 10 more calories than a Raw Grade A Large Egg?

CatLambee

I don't know the exact science behind it but when an egg is fried more of the fat in the egg renders which would increase the calorie count. The entry might also assume you are using either butter, oil or spray when frying it.

Here's just one good article on the fat content:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/343588-nutrition-of-a-hard-boiled-egg-vs-a-fried-egg/

If the fat is rendered from the egg, it would have been included in the egg in the first place. What's the deal in the article where a fried egg has more iron? Where does it come from? Is that only if you cook in a cast iron skillet? (I know that cooking in cast iron is supposed to add iron to your food...) I don't trust the information because it was presented with no explanation for why the nutrition data is different for that egg.

This actually happens. Cooked spinach contains more iron than uncooked spinach because the heat causes the composition to change, and molecules to rearrange. Chia seeds are much more nutritional if combined with a liquid or gelatenous substance that allows them to release their own "jelly". You can get the most out of your food depending on how you prepare it. Another example is how fresh food contains more nutrients than canned, frozen, or just plain not-fresh food. Enzymes in the organic material being to break down the components of the food, taking away key nutrients that you would have gotten had you eaten it fresh off the vine/tree/what have you.

When people call food "edible chemistry" they are not joking.

fur_lucks_sake

you have to weigh them in grams.

then you have to weigh the shells and subtract to get the true calorie count.

lluckenbaugh

I raise my own eggs, free range. Really no clue if that changes anything or not. This is how I do my eggs: 2 eggs in a bowl, whipped with a fork and nuked for a minute. Looks like an omelette, no added fat, all egg. I throw them in to bring up my protein count without adding carbs.

mike_ny

Cooking changes the food through various chemical processes. An example is starches that would not be digestible raw become digestible after being cooked, so a raw potato will have less calories that your body can absorb than a cooked one. There's also the case of fat or gelatin being rendered out of a food, so a cooked item can also have fewer calories. In both of these examples the number difference is still not huge.


Most of the changes that occur by cooking have more of an effect on nutrients and your ability to absorb them and not as much on the available calories of a food item, though. The caloric sum of everything you put in a pan and take out of it will in most cases be about the same, or close enough for a food diary.