Raw egg vs cooked egg: how much of the protein you digest

Cooked, about nine-tenths of the egg protein was digested. Raw, about half to two-thirds. From a 100 g serving of egg (12.4 g of protein on the label), that is about 11–12 g digested cooked against 6–8 g raw.

Checked against its sources, in English and French, on 2026-10-17, with data v0.2. The text is as audited; any figure that comes from the live database is recomputed when the page loads and must still match it.

Audited with data v0.2 and method v0.2. The site is now on data v0.6, method v0.4.

Still holds: Two studies’ results and the listed protein of one USDA entry, recomputed when the page loads: it must still match, or this page would not show. No correction since concerns this card.

What has moved: Nothing on this card.

Every number to its source

The same egg mixture, eaten raw and eaten cooked, in two small human studies.

Study (who)	Raw	Cooked	Tested at
Evenepoel 1999 (10 healthy adults)	65% digested	94% digested	25 g of egg protein ⚑ ◇
Evenepoel 1998 (5 people with an ileostomy)	51%	91%	25 g of egg protein ⚑
Whole boiled egg: Kashyap 2018 (6 adults), another measure ◆	not tested	*89%*	about 22 g of protein in the meal

Digested = digested and absorbed by the end of the small intestine, which is what these studies measured. It is not "protein quality", and it is not muscle built.
Both Evenepoel studies fed 200 g of egg white plus one yolk, mixed: mostly egg white, not a whole egg. 1998 cooked it in a microwave; ◇ the 1999 paper doesn't say how it was cooked.
The 1999 figures come from tracers in urine and stool, and the authors call them approximate (they may overstate how much escaped). The 1998 figures were measured directly in ileostomy fluid.
◆ Kashyap 2018 measured a whole egg boiled 20 minutes, eaten in a rice-and-curry meal, as the average of seven essential amino acids rather than total protein. It sits beside the others; it doesn't rank against them.
⚑ The test meal held 25 g of egg protein, twice the protein in one 100 g serving.
Grams digested = protein listed in USDA FoodData Central × the studies' fractions. Derived, not measured, and the fractions come from the egg-white-rich mixture. Every digestibility figure is grade A (a human study of egg); the listed protein is grade C (a database value).
Raw eggs also carry two things this card doesn't score: Salmonella (Health Canada: cook eggs to 74 °C; raw or lightly cooked eggs are especially risky for young children, older adults, pregnant women and people with weakened immunity), and avidin, a raw egg-white protein that binds the vitamin biotin and stops working once cooked (from a review, grade B).

Foodtopsy · audit dated 2026-10-17, on dataset v0.2 and method v0.2 · sources and corrections: the receipt below · corrections · Information, not medical advice.

Where each number comes from

Where every figure on the card comes from.

Listed value: USDA FoodData Central (CC0), Foundation 748967 "Eggs, Grade A, Large, egg whole" (raw): 12.4 g protein per 100 g. Serving: Health Canada, Table of Reference Amounts for Food, G.2 eggs, 100 g. Digested per serving = 12.4 g × the fraction as published. The raw listing is used for both arms because the studies fed the same weighed egg, raw or cooked.

Raw, 1999

Study · measure · n · population: Evenepoel et al. 1999, Am J Physiol 277:G935, PMID 10564098 · share of the meal that escaped digestion and absorption in the small intestine, from ¹⁵N in stool and ²H-labelled phenols in urine (calculated "approximately") · 10 · healthy volunteers, 5 women and 5 men, mean age 27 (21–37)
Figure as printed: 35.10% ± 6.78 (SE) escaped, so 64.9% digested (complement)
Test meal · preparation · access: 100 g ¹⁵N egg white + 100 g ¹³C/²H egg white + the yolk of one egg, mixed; 25 g protein, 150 kcal; eaten raw after a 12 h fast · full text (APS, free to read)
Digested per 100 g serving (derived): 8.0 g

Cooked, 1999

Study · measure · n · population: same
Figure as printed: 5.73% ± 0.50 (SE) escaped, so 94.3% digested
Test meal · preparation · access: the same mixture, "cooked"; the method is not stated anywhere in the paper · full text
Digested per 100 g serving (derived): 11.7 g

Raw, 1998

Study · measure · n · population: Evenepoel et al. 1998, J Nutr 128:1716, PMID 9772141 · true ileal digestibility (¹⁵N in ileostomy effluent) · 5 · ileostomy patients, 4 women and 1 man, 28–76 y
Figure as printed: 51.3% ± 9.8 (SEM)
Test meal · preparation · access: 100 g ¹³C egg white + 100 g ¹⁵N egg white + the yolk of one egg; 25 g protein (nominal), 624 kJ; raw · full text (PDF)
Digested per 100 g serving (derived): 6.4 g

Cooked, 1998

Study · measure · n · population: same
Figure as printed: 90.9% ± 0.8 (SEM)
Test meal · preparation · access: the same mixture "cooked in a microwave oven" · full text
Digested per 100 g serving (derived): 11.3 g

Whole boiled egg (◆, unranked)

Study · measure · n · population: Kashyap et al. 2018, Am J Clin Nutr 108:980, PMID 30272112 · true ileal digestibility, mean of seven indispensable amino acids (dual stable-isotope tracer) · 6 · healthy non-smoking Indian adults, 18–45 y
Figure as printed: 89.4% ± 4.5 (SD)
Test meal · preparation · access: whole egg boiled 20 min, shelled, eaten in a ghee-rice and curry meal; 22.08 g protein in the meal · full text (PMC6250983)
Digested per 100 g serving (derived): not computed (different measure)

Also in the receipt:

Kashyap 2018's boiled egg white only: 86.3% ± 4.6 (SD), n 6 (grade B for whole egg: a fraction of the food). Shivakumar et al. 2019 (PMID 30920607), whole boiled egg in children 18–24 months: 87.4% ± 4.0 (SD), n 6.
Excluded: Hodgkinson et al. 2025, boiled egg 90.4%, measured in pigs. Pig and human arms never share a card.
Load: 25 g of egg protein in the test meal against 12.4 g in one serving: 2.0× (flagged; flag at more than 2×).
The dataset's own correction: the 1999 cooked arm is stored on the hard-boiled food row as "cooked (method not stated in the abstract)", and the 1998 cooked arm on the raw row. The full texts show both are the same egg-white-rich mixture; neither is a hard-boiled whole egg.
Hazards on the raw-egg row: Salmonella flag (Health Canada, Egg safety, page read 2026-10-17: "Eggs and egg-based foods should be cooked to an internal temperature of at least 74°C (165°F)"; raw or lightly cooked eggs "can be especially risky for" young children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems). Avidin–biotin flag (Solvik & Strand 2024, Food Nutr Res 68:10256, a scoping review: avidin "binds biotin and prevents its absorption"; "The biotin-binding capacity of egg white is lost upon cooking"; grade B, secondary).
Not on this card: scrambled egg (no digestibility row), DIAAS (none held), the weight of one large egg (not in the files read, so the card says "100 g", not "two eggs").