Eggs are delicious and all, but do they make you poop? Or maybe what we should be asking is... do they make you poop more than normal?
Of course everything that goes and must come out, so it is a given that they are going to lead to defecation. But what you want to know is whether or not those nice little tasty innocent eggs lead to more frequent bathroom visits than normal.
The answer to this is that they can, but probably won't. In fact, they are more likely to lead to the opposite effect, but we will get to that in a minute.
It's no wonder why this question is getting asked more and more, which led to the need for us to post about it. In America people eat eggs by the boatload. Statistica reported that in 2018 Americans consumed about 278.4 eggs each during the year, and the charts show a pretty steady increase since 2000.
Now these numbers probably don't mean much to you, but what you should be aware of is that they are significantly higher than most other countries out there.
But they or so darn tasty and easy to make. They make for the perfect breakfast meal and really pack some good nutrition. According to the egg nutrition from the USDA, one large egg has...
- 72 calories
- 6.28g protein
- 4.75g fat
- 0.36g carbs
- 0.18g sugar
... along with lots of vitamins and minerals such as calcium, iron, potassium, sodium, vitamin B-6 and B-12, folate, vitamin A, vitamin D and so on.
The high cholesterol, at 186mg per large egg, is the only real downside. But even this is open to debate and is being seen as not such a bad thing in recent years.
It Is Possible That They'll Make You Poop... But Is It Likely?
If you think that your egg consumption is leading to more frequent bathroom visits, the first thing you want to ask yourself is whether or not the eggs are actually the ones to blame. Eggs are commonly consumed as a breakfast food and alongside other foods, which could also possibly lead to increased pooping. There are lots of high fiber breakfasts on the market that have more potential to cause such.
In order to find out if eggs really are the culprit, you could run a easy elimination diet to find out, where you would eliminate foods from your diet one by one until the symptoms go away.
If you are sure that eggs are the problem then is possible that you have an intolerance to them, or are allergic... or could have even gotten diarrhea due to contamination, as was discussed in a another post here. If you are concerned about your problem and consider it serious, it is recommended to consult with a doctor to get to the bottom of things.
They are probably more likely to cause constipation..
By looking at the contents of eggs, they seem to be much more likely to cause constipation than increased pooping.
One of the main reasons for this is the fact that they have no fiber whatsoever. Fiber is very important when it comes to maintaining healthy bowel movements. It helps break up food, add bulk to stool, absorb water and soften it up... All of which helps, and eggs provide none of this.
Another possible way that they could increase chances of constipation is due to the saturated fat content. Saturated fat consumption is associated with increased constipation according to this 2016 article in the journal Neurogastroenterol Motility and many others. Now one large egg only has 1.6g of saturated fat, which isn't too bad and most of the fat they contain is good for you, but it is still worth mentioning.
A Well Balanced Diet Is Key
Most people who eat eggs probably have no adverse effects on their bowel movements due to eating such. And if you do, it is likely because you don't have a well-balanced diet, which is key.
If you are someone who eats a lot of eggs at a time you might be getting full from this zero fiber food which then leads to you eating less of other foods that do contain fiber. This can really throw off your fiber balance which is one of the most common causes of digestive issues like constipation and diarrhea
If you are someone who eats a lot of eggs for breakfast then you should look into adding some good high-fiber sources on the side. Things like…
- Whole grain toast
- Oatmeal
- Whole wheat pancakes and waffles
- Spinach (mix it in with an omelette maybe)
- Blueberries
Conclusion
Eggs do indeed make you poop along with every other food that you eat. That said, they probably won't make you have any more frequent bowel movements than normal, although they "can" for a number of different reasons, such as egg intolerance or egg allergy as mentioned above.
They are more likely to cause constipation or less frequent bowel movements due to their zero fiber content, although if you have a well-balanced diet this is likely nothing to worry about either.
All in all eggs are a good health-food that most people should be eating. Just make sure you do so in moderation. You never want to eat too much of anything because that is when it starts getting unhealthy.
It is very likely that eggs are what make some people poop. If you have an intolerance to eggs they will in fact cause you to poop and may upset your stomach. But to figure out if if you have ab intolerance or are even allergic you have to do what is suggested in the article and eliminate then reintroduce foods to discover the culprit.
Well put Robert.