Ingredient Watch
Written By Lissie Lyles |
Some people avoid eggs due to allergies, others because they are watching their cholesterol. Others don?t eat eggs because they want to avoid eating animal foods altogether. Some folks just don?t like eggs, plain and simple. Whatever the reason, when it comes to baked goods, eggs no longer need to be a staple ingredient. There are many substitutes and even egg replacer food products on the market these days.
Lets look at some of these egg replacer products and see how they compare with the ingredient they are meant to imitate.
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Ingredients: Potato Starch, tapioca starch flour, leavening (calcium lactate {not derived from dairy},calcium carbonate, citric acid), sodium carboxymethylcellulose, methylcellulose
Pros: Vegan, gluten free, soy free, sugar free. This product is combined with water to replace eggs in most baked good recipes.
Cons: Product contains hard to pronounce ingredients. Sodium Carboxymethylcellulose is an emulsifying agent that the FDA considers safe as a food additive. It is used as a thickening agent for some ice cream products. It is also a constituent in many non-food products including k-y jelly, toothpaste, laxatives, diet pills, water-based paints, detergents, and various paper products. It is also used as a lubricant in non-volatile eye drops (artificial tears). Though it has been deemed safe for use, it is interesting to note that a Material Safety Data sheet compiled by ScienceLab.com lists this ingredient as being ?hazardous in cases of skin contact (irritant), of eye contact (irritant) of ingestion, of inhalation.? More than likely, this additive is only dangerous in large quantities, quantities much larger than what one would get from this food product in a typical serving. Even so, unpronounceable ingredients are red-flagged for a reason, they are not food, but food-like substances, and there is a huge difference between the two.
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Ingredients: potato starch, tapioca flour, vegetable gum, methycellulose, calcium carbonate, citric acid
Pros: Vegan, gluten free, soy free, sugar free. GMO free. This products makers claim this egg substitute can be used to make egg free custards, and even egg free mayonnaise.
Cons: Contains highly processed ingredients. Even though none of the additives are considered to be dangerous, they are not exactly beneficial to the diet either. Methyl cellulose is often used to treat constipation, because it passes through the digestive tract undisturbed. It attracts large amounts of water to the colon producing softer stool. If a person is not sufficiently hydrated, consuming methyl cellulose can cause dehydration.
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Ingredients: Whole Soy flour, Wheat Gluten, corn syrup solids, algin (from algae).
Pros: Vegan. Suitable for use in most baked goods. Algin is a less processed emulsifier than those mentioned above.
Cons: Corn syrup solids contain the most damaging kind of sugar: fructose, which is implicated in the cause of diabetes and a host of other negative health conditions. The wheat gluten makes this product unsuitable for gluten free folks. The soy powder rules this product out for people with soy allergies.
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None of these products really offer any nutritional benefits. Sure, they may be low in fat, and high in fiber, but they don?t provide much in the way of protein, vitamins or minerals. If you do not have health reasons such as allergies for avoiding eggs, they might be worth reconsidering. After all, eggs are a complete protein; they contain all essential amino acids. Eggs are also high in vitamins A, B2, D, and E, as well as niacin, biotin, copper, iron, phosphorus, and unsaturated fats. None of the nutrition facts on that box of powdered starch and emulsifiers come anywhere close to indicating that egg replacers can supplement the nutritional benefits one gets from eating an actual egg.
Of course, not all eggs are created equal. Fresh organic eggs, from chickens that have been allowed to forage for food, including bugs, have been shown to be higher in vitamins and lower in cholesterol, when compared with feed-lot eggs. The chance of exposure to salmonella is much lower when you purchase eggs from a small family farm, as is the chance that the chickens producing the eggs have a good quality of life.
If you still feel that eggs cannot be included in your diet, there are many simple whole foods that make excellent egg replacement, and do not come with any weird additives in tow. For sweet baked goods, such as cakes and cookies, a half a banana can be substituted for every egg, or you can use four tablespoons of apple sauce. One tablespoon of milled flax seed plus tablespoons of water can also be mixed to equal an egg. Fiber-rich flax helps baked goods become light and fluffy too. As always, when navigating the grocery aisles, choose whole foods over food products, and watch out for those multi-syllabic additives.
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References:
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1. Churchman, John D. Nutrition Almanac, revised edition. McGraw-Hill Book Company. New York, 1979.
2. Fallon, Sally with Enid, Mary G., PhD. Nourishing Traditions, Revised Second Edition. New Trends Publishing. Washington DC, 2001.
3. http://www.ener-g.com/gluten-free/egg-substitute.html
4. http://www.thevegetariansite.com
5. http://www.bobsredmill.com/vegetarian-egg-replacer.html
6. http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=992331
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