Whey vs egg protein is not exactly an age-old debate but it is one that people are starting to think about (and Google) more.

Is one better than the other? It depends on what you are looking for.

They are both fantastic sources of essential amino acids but, when it comes to muscle building, whey protein may take the crown due to its superior leucine content which aids with muscle protein synthesis.

However, egg protein does have its unique benefits… read on to see a full comparison between these two types of protein!

Egg Protein

Though disputed in certain extreme vegan programmes, the nutritional content of eggs is well documented.

Eggs contain several nutrients that can benefit overall health – choline, vitamin D, vitamin A, selenium and, of course, protein!

Eggs are renowned for their protein quality – they contain all essential amino acids, meaning we can regard them as a “complete protein“.

Now, let’s get a bit nerdy. Eggs have a great protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score.

“What on earth is that?” I hear you say. Well, put simply this is a score, usually between 0-1 or 1-100, given to a protein to measure its amino acid profile (whether it contains many different amino acids or only a few and the composition of these amino acids) and how digestible the protein is (i.e. how well our bodies can utilise the amino acids in the protein). A higher score indicates a higher-quality protein.

Egg protein powder scores 100 on the amino acid scale (1).

Impressive, right? This suggests that egg protein provides a highly digestible and complete set of amino acids to the body.

Whey Protein Powder

Believe it or not, whey also scores 100 on the amino acid scale (2) and you’ve probably heard a lot about this type of protein already – we have even spoken about in other blogs like this one about whey protein vs hemp protein.

Whey is easily the most researched type of protein, if you look back at the scientific literature you can see it’s been studied for over 40 years.

Most of us associate whey protein with people trying to increase muscle growth and they would be right to make this assumption! (it also has other functions but we’ll focus on muscle building and recovery in this blog).

Of the research available, it’s pretty conclusive that whey protein stimulates something called muscle protein synthesis to a greater extent than most other proteins, including soy and casein protein (3,4).

Put simply, muscle protein synthesis is the process where our bodies build new proteins within muscle cells. When we work out, our body triggers muscle protein synthesis to stimulate the repair of damaged proteins in our muscles. Ultimately, over time, this can lead to an increase in muscle mass and strength.

So, exercise increases muscle protein synthesis but, importantly, so does food! This is optimal as during the hours/days after working out, we want to stimulate muscle protein synthesis to support muscle recovery.

Whey protein is great at stimulating muscle protein synthesis.

This is due to it being super digestible and its leucine-rich amino acid content (5). We’ve spoken about leucine before, in fact, we hailed it as the “king of amino acids” when it comes to muscle building in our blog about whey protein vs BCAAs.

Can you tell I’m enjoying making my own AI images?

Leucine activates something called the mTOR pathway which stimulates muscle protein synthesis. As whey protein is approximately 10% leucine, it’s thought that this is part of the reason why it’s so effective for building muscle and assisting in recovery.

Whey vs Egg Protein – The Showdown

Calorie, Carbohydrate, Protein and Fat Content

Take a look at the comparison between an egg white protein powder and a whey protein concentrate powder per 30-gram serving:

	Calories (kcal)	Carbs (g)	Protein (g)	Fat (g)
Whey Protein	114	1.8	23	1.9
Egg Protein	101	1.6	23	0.1

 

Pretty even, right?

On the surface, there’s not much difference between these two other than egg protein having fewer calories due to the slightly lower fat content (still only a tiny difference).

Let’s delve a bit deeper to see if we can uncover anything else!

Amino Acid Content

Have a look at the below chart I’ve made to depict three essential branched-chain amino acids per 100g of egg white protein vs whey protein.

I’ve chosen these three as they play specific roles in muscle growth and repair, in fact, they comprise 17% of human skeletal muscle (6).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we start to see some differences…

Remember previously we spoke about the “king of amino acids”, leucine, we can see that whey protein supplements contain more leucine per 100g than egg protein which may be favourable for muscle building and recovery.

Nothing compares to whey proteins’ leucine content per gram, it’s the highest out there of the popular types of protein powder.

Nonetheless, egg protein is no pushover – it still puts up some good numbers, even outdoing whey protein for valine content.

Blood Sugar

Upon writing this article, I came across another blog writing about the same topic. However, their work seems much more biased towards egg protein.

When answering “Is egg white protein better than whey?” their response was a categorical “yes“.

One of their reasons for this was that egg protein doesn’t lead to spikes in blood sugar, seemingly suggesting that whey does because it causes an increase in insulin which “controls blood sugar levels” referencing this study as their source of this information.

First, let’s make something clear – insulin plays more roles than just regulating blood sugar levels. An increase in insulin is not always in response to an increase in blood sugar, so for the person to suggest this is just misleading.

One such role of insulin is enhancing the uptake of amino acids, promoting protein synthesis. Leucine, and other amino acids, are known as insulinogenic amino acids which means they stimulate the release of insulin even if blood sugar levels don’t change.

If you read the study properly, you see at one point the author discusses how the amino acids trigger insulin release via a different mechanism than glucose (sugar). They go on to talk about how the addition of essential amino acids (such as those found in whey) to the diet of a patient with type 2 diabetes can actually lower fasting blood sugar levels and serum insulin levels.

To further make my point, studies (7,8) in lean and healthy people have shown that whey consumption can lower blood sugar. This study showed that after consuming either whey, tuna, turkey and, would you look at that, egg albumin (egg whites), glucose and insulin concentrations were best for whey. Blood sugar levels were significantly lower for whey compared to eggs and, would you look at that again, blood insulin was significantly higher for whey.

Again, this shows that whey may indeed increase insulin levels BUT this doesn’t mean it increases blood sugar levels, precisely the opposite in fact.

This is why it’s important to do your research or find someone you trust (I hope that can be me) to make an informed decision, there’s a lot of misinformation, or misinterpretation of scientific evidence, out there folks.

Funnily enough, the article went on to promote their own brand of egg white protein…

Potential Side Effects

Generally, both whey powder and egg protein powder are considered safe for consumption in healthy adults and pose minimal risks of any side effects.

However, there are a few things to be wary of:

• if you have lactose intolerance then you should probably avoid whey protein. Though, people who are lactose intolerant don’t have to avoid whey as certain types of whey protein, like whey protein isolate, contain little to no lactose (often under 1%). As with anything, it comes down to individual differences – particularly how sensitive you are to lactose or dairy products.
• Without sounding too obvious, people with egg allergies should avoid egg protein!
• The most common side effect, especially if you consume excessive amounts of whey or egg protein, is stomach discomfort. Be mindful not to rely on supplements, rather, use them sparingly to help you meet your goals. Your main focus should always be on whole food.

Weight loss

Egg or whey protein could be great tools to assist with weight loss but they shouldn’t be considered as weight loss supplements.

They could be a great addition to a diet that’s focused on meeting a calorie deficit, eating predominately whole foods and developing healthy behaviours with food/physical activity.

As they are packed full of protein, this can help individuals feel fuller for longer – protein is known to be the most filling macronutrient. By keeping us fuller, it could help us reduce our calorie intake leading to weight loss.

When we are in a calorie deficit, we also want to maintain as much muscle mass as possible. Often, if protein isn’t high enough (and if we aren’t providing a stimulus to our muscles through exercise), we can lose muscle as well as fat (although, it is natural to lose some muscle in a calorie deficit).

By eating a sufficient amount of protein, we can offset a lot of this muscle loss and ensure that we are predominantly losing fat!

The incorporation of egg or whey protein can help with this whether that’s protein shakes or maybe even using them in cooking – liquid egg whites could be added to whole eggs to increase the protein content of your scrambled eggs or tasty omelette! Egg white and whey protein can also be added to things like oatmeal or be used to make protein pancakes!

The Bottom Line

So, whey vs egg protein, who won? Well, It comes down to your personal preferences, goals and dietary requirements.

If your goal is muscle building, in my opinion, whey protein takes the crown purely because of the superior leucine content which will aid with muscle protein synthesis.

However, egg protein can still be a great option and it has its uses for people who do not consume dairy products or may want to use it in baking/cooking.

It’s also no pushover when it comes to its amino acid content!

As egg protein tends to be unflavored, it doesn’t contain any artificial ingredients – a good brand of egg protein will only have 1 ingredient, 100% dried egg whites.

As I always say, do what is right for you and your body with a focus on whole foods before supplementing your diet with protein to help meet your goals!