Grade A Chicken Eggs vs.
Eggbeaters: sugar, protein, photosynthesis, lipid tests find differences in
lipid quantity
ÊBy Josh Burda, Lesley Cassetto, Renee Laplante, Katie Lewandowski
LBS 145
Lab section: W1
Brent Aktinson, Rebecca Degraaf
Abstract
Final Draft by Renee LaPlante
ÊGrade A eggs and Eggbeaters were tested in order to answer the following questions: Do grade A eggs and Eggbeaters share similar sugar and protein content and at the same time, have evident differences in lipid content? Also, does the artificiality of Eggbeaters cause irregular development in photosynthetic properties?ÊÊÊ
Several
carbohydrate tests were utilized, including Barfoedâs,
Selivanoffâs, Benedictâs, Bialâs and an Iodine test, to determine sugar
properties.ÊÊ Completion of the
carbohydrate tests displayed negative results, confirming no sugar in either
substance and supporting previous research that sugar is absent in eggs and
Eggbeaters (Anonymous, 2004).Ê Protein
content was determined with use of the
For the presence of lipids, solubility and translucence tests were performed.Ê Results supported predictions showing that eggs contain many lipids and Eggbeaters contain none.Ê Lastly, photosynthetic tests including a paper chromatography test, performed on eggs and egg feed grass, and an action spectrum test, performed on egg fed grass, were completed.Ê No pigment was found in eggs or Eggbeaters, and only chlorophyll b was present in grass fed with both substances. Carotene was absent, going against predictions based on carotene in egg yolk (Chung et al, 2004).ÊÊ A loss of pigments was noted in the grasses. An action spectrum was performed on grasses fed both substances and was found that Eggbeaters sped up the development of photosynthesis. Eggbeaters company claim is in fact, supported by these scientific tests.
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Figure 9: Lipid Solubility test results from left to right for colored water, butter, Grade A eggs, and Eggbeaters. After being vortexed for 15 seconds, if the substance dissolved in the lighter fluid, it contained lipids.Ê If the substance floated on the top, no lipids were present.Ê The negative control of colored water floated on top of the lighter fluid (tube 1), indicating no presence of lipids, and our positive butter control dissolved (tube 2), showing the existence of lipids. Grade A eggs dissolved in lighter fluid (tube 3), also indicating the presence of lipids.Ê Eggbeaters, on the other hand, floated on top of the lighter fluid (tube 4), indicating an absence of lipids.
Discussion
Final Draft by Katie Lewandowski
Health is a major issue in todayâs society.Ê Certain foods are being ãreplacedä by substitutes claiming that they have only the ãgood stuffä. One example is the Eggbeater Company that claimed that Eggbeaters are ãonly the good stuffä creating ãthe healthier egg.ä Though we cannot prove Eggbeaters are supposedly ãhealthierä alternatives for natural eggs, we were able to analyze and compare the composition of sugars, amount of protein, photosynthesis effects, and lipid content of both Grade A Eggs and Eggbeaters, to determine if there was an evident difference between the two products. Our research was based along the three-tiered question: Do Grade A Eggs and Eggbeaters share similar sugar and protein? Do these substances have evident differences in lipid content? And finally, does the artificiality of Eggbeaters cause irregular development in photosynthetic properties?Ê It was originally hypothesized that Eggbeaters were the same as normal Grade A Eggs in regards to sugar composition and protein amount, but different in their lipid content and photosynthetic properties.
To begin, analysis of the Grade A Eggs nutrition label showed that the eggs contain, if any, very trace amounts of sugar.Ê The nutrition label for Eggbeaters also showed that their product, if any, contains very trace amounts of sugar (Anonymous, 2004).Ê It was predicted that both egg substances, Grade A eggs and Eggbeaters, would contain no sugar at all.Ê Therefore, all five of the sugar tests completed were predicted to show negative results.
The results of the sugar tests allowed easy confirmation for all of the hypothesized results. The first sugar test completed was Benedictâs test. In this test, copper was reduced to form a red precipitate.Ê If a precipitate formed, it was known that a reducing sugar was present.Ê The Benedictâs test showed absolutely no formation of a precipitate throughout the entire experiment, for all three trials of both the Grade A eggs and the Eggbeaters (Figure 1). This negative result confirmed a lack of presence of any kind of reducing sugar in either of the two substances.
Barfoedâs test was completed next. This test distinguished monosaccharides from polysaccharides, with a brownish-red color indicating monosaccharides.Ê There was no found color change for any of the trials completed using Grade A eggs and Eggbeaters (Figure 2).Ê This indicating, that Grade A eggs and Eggbeaters do not contain monosaccharides.
Following Barfoedâs test, Selivanoffâs test analyzed the substances to determine if there were any aldoses or ketoses present.Ê This test was based on a timed procedure, in which ketoses reacted to give a red color quicker than did aldoses.Ê Both the Grade A eggs and Eggbeaters showed no color change at all (Figure 3), indicating that no aldoses or ketoses were present in either substance.Ê
Bialâs test detected if there was a presence of furanose rings in either substance.Ê A green solution meant that a pentose furanose was present and an olive/brown solution meant that a hexose furanose was present.Ê Again, both the Grade A eggs and Eggbeaters, in all trials, showed no color change at all (Figure 4).Ê This result indicates that no furanose rings are present in either substance.Ê During Bialâs test, it is important to note that there was a slight color change found in both substances to begin with.Ê However, this change was due to the cooking of the egg during the boiling procedure of this test.Ê The egg, for clarity, was filtered out using a cheese cloth to further distinguish that there were no furanose ring present.
The final test, the Iodine test, distinguished if there was any starch present.Ê If starch was present, the solution being tested turned a dark blue-black color (Figure 5).Ê None of the trials tested, for Grade A eggs and Eggbeaters, turned color.Ê All trials had no change, indicating that there is also no starch present in either of the subjects.
Controls were completed using different sugars and water for every test.Ê These controls were used to determine what the color changes of the egg substances meant. When determining color change, there was some variance of color as compared to the controls in most of the tests.Ê This was due to the viscosity and original color of the eggs to begin with.Ê This should not have affected the results for any test, for it was still noticeable that none of the tests were positive.Ê For all five sugar tests that were completed, it was very easy to come to concrete conclusions.Ê Our hypothesis was supported in every single test and our predictions were correct.Ê There was absolutely no indication that there was any sugar present in Grade A eggs or in Eggbeaters.Ê Regarding the tests that were performed, the substances are identical in their sugar content.Ê There could still be a small trace of sugar that was not detected in our experiment but no further research has shown that eggs contain sugar.
While investigating information about the protein content of eggs, it was discovered that a normal Grade A egg stores most of the eggâs protein in its yolk (Herron et al, 2004).Ê Eggbeaters consist of egg whites only, but it is claimed by Eggbeater representatives that protein is added to the Eggbeater substance to make up for lost yolk protein (Anonymous, 2004). Due to the claim by the Eggbeater company, it was predicted that the Grade A eggs and Eggbeaters should contain nearly the same protein content.Ê Also, according to the Eggbeaters website, when compared to a normal egg they both contained 6 grams of protein.
To determine the amount of protein present in both egg substances, the Bradford Assay was completed.Ê The Bradford Assay compared absorbencies of the substances in relation to a standard protein curve created using bovine serum albumin (BSA) (Figure 6).Ê The Grade A eggs were found to have an average protein content of 12.25 μg/μl and the Eggbeaters were found to have an average protein content of 10.80 μg/μl (see Table 1).The raw data for these averages were used to perform a statistical t-test.Ê The result for the t-test was that p = 0.17057 (see Table 1).Ê The p-value is greater than 0.05, which means that there is no significant statistical difference between the two protein amounts.Ê In order for there to have been a significant difference, the p-value would have had to have been less than 0.05.Ê Therefore, our hypothesis was supported in that both Grade A eggs and Eggbeaters would have the same protein content.Ê The claims from the Eggbeater company stand true, and although slightly smaller, the Eggbeaters do contain similar amounts of protein when compared to Grade A eggs.
The slight difference in the average protein content was most likely due to human error.Ê Very small amounts of substances and solutions were used in this assay; therefore it may have been possible that pipetting errors may have occurred.Ê The protein content was found based on absorbencies and although the test was performed as quickly and accurately as possible, towards the end, the solutions may have reacted to a greater extent, giving higher absorbencies than normal.Ê Taking these possible errors into account, the test was repeated extra times for accuracy. We got the same results when we repeated this experiment.
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ Moving on, Grade A egg yolks also contain an important element called lutein , which is a non-provitamin A carotene pigment, contributing toÊ an egg yolkâs yellow/orange color (Chung et al, 2004).Ê A recent study was performed on men where they were given lutein supplements, lutein ester supplements, spinach (rich in lutein), and eggs in their meals.Ê Results showed that men who ate the eggs in their meals had higher serum lutein absorptions in their intestine (Chung et al, 2004). An Eggbeater however, contains no yolk, so we could infer that it also contains no lutein. In addition, the list of added ingredients further supported our reason for prediction by not listing lutein or carotene as an ãaddedä ingredient on the nutritional facts label of the product (Anonymous, 2004). Absence of lutein means possible absence of carotene pigment.Ê We predict that the results following the paper chromatography test supported the initial hypothesis that Grade A Eggs do in fact show carotene pigments, while Eggbeaters showed no carotene content.
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ When we actually complete the paper chromatography test, bands appeared on the chromatography strips which represented different pigments.Ê From the top of the strip down, the pigments go in this order; carotene, xanthophyll, chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b. Then the ratio of the distance traveled by the dissolved substances to the distance of the solvent moved was calculated to determine which pigments were in each substance and called the Rf. When we tested just the plain Eggbeaters and the Grade A Eggs on the paper chromatography strips, we did not get any pigments ( Figure 7). This may be due to error that the Grade A Eggs and Eggbeaters solution and even diluted solution was getting stuck in the capillary tubes or due to the lack of chlorophyll since we were just dotting the Grade A Eggs and Eggbeater.
Yet, when we tested for pigments through the grass that had been given Eggbeaters and Grade A Eggs, we found clear results on the paper chromatography strips (Figure 8). For the grass that was given Eggbeaters, our average Rf was 0.119 which meant that these grasses only contained pigments of chlorophyll b. Then we tested for pigments through the grass that was given Grade A Eggs, which Rf was 0.124, which meant that these grasses also only contained chlorophyll b. Next, we tested the grass that had been given water as a control, which gave us three Rf averages. The average for the chlorophyll b was 0.099, for chlorophyll a was 0.227 and for xanthophyll was 1. This means that the grass given water did not contain carotene, yet it did contain the other 3 pigments. Another positive control was conducted through spinach leaves which showed all four pigments. The average Rf for chlorophyll b was 0.121, for chlorophyll a was 0.2425, for xanthophyll was 0.612 and for carotene was 0.98 in the spinach leaves (Table 2). This was interesting that the grass given water did not have all four pigments but the spinach did when both the grass give water and the spinach were our positive controls.
Unfortunately, this evidence did not support that our original hypothesis that the paper chromatography test supported the initial hypothesis that Grade A Eggs do in fact show carotene pigments, while Eggbeaters do not. Our evidence through the paper chromatography strips showed that Eggbeaters and Grade A Eggs only contained chlorophyll b pigments and no carotene pigment was even detected. This may be due to the fact that small amount of mold was growing in the soils of the Grade A Eggs. Though this mold did not kill the grass, it might have had something to do with the fact that no carotene pigments were recorded on the paper chromatography strips.
While investigating photosynthetic properties of Eggbeaters and Grade A Eggs, we administered The Hill Reaction which determined the action spectrum of photosynthesis in our grasses given Eggbeaters and Grade A Eggs. The Hill Reaction shows two reactions of photosynthesis, which are photophosphorylation and photolysis. Chlorophyll solutions were made from the grasses given Eggbeaters, Grade A Eggs and water and were run through the Hill Reaction by giving them light and no light. By giving the solutions no light, this meant that the absorption level would be 100% due to no light being exposed to the solution. This acted as a starting point of the amount of light that could be absorbed by the chlorophyll. As the solutions were exposed to light, absorption levels decreased, thus allowing more light to pass through the chlorophyll solutions and giving the solutions lighter color appearances. As this happens, the absorption numbers decrease, which means that photosynthesis is actually increasing.
The average absorption number for the grass given Grade A Eggs with no light was 1.38 and light was 1.318, which showed a 4.3% decrease in absorbance. This meant that the Grade A Eggs was 4.3% efficient at photosynthesis.Ê The average absorption number for the grass given Eggbeaters given no light was 2.125 and for light was 1.49, which showed a 28.5% decrease in absorbance. This meant that the Eggbeaters were more efficient at photosynthesis than the Grade A Egg. What was unusual was that our positive control of the grass given water average absorption number for no light was 1.267 and for light was 1.51, which showed a 19% increase in absorbance (Table 3). This meant that photosynthesis actually slowed compared to the Grade A Eggs and Eggbeaters. Perhaps a source of error could be found in the process of testing the Hill Reaction for the grass given water because the absorbance numbers increased in the white light treatment.
Even though the Grade A Eggs did not affect photosynthesis that much, photosynthesis was largely affected by the Eggbeaters. What was interesting was the fact that photosynthesis increased for the grass given Eggbeaters so much which the Eggbeaters almost acted like a fertilizer. What was making these grasses fed Eggbeaters speed up photosynthesis? Future research could be conducted investigating the effects of Eggbeaters given to grasses to speed up their photosynthetic properties.
Remember that one of the questions we are trying to answer is does the artificiality of Eggbeaters cause irregular development in photosynthetic properties? After looking at the results from the Hill Reaction, we can answer yes because the photosynthetic properties are actually enhanced when compared to the grass given water and Grade A Eggs. Since we need future research to look into the artificiality of Eggbeaters, we can not prove that Eggbeaters artificiality cause the irregular developments but we can say that the Eggbeaters themselves does create irregular developments in photosynthetic properties which can be concluded from the results in the Hill Reaction.
Grade A eggs also contain large amounts of fat, mostly in the egg yolk, and an analysis of a Grade A egg showed the egg contains approximately 5 grams of total fat, and 2 grams of saturated fatty acids (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1995).Ê Eggbeaters claim that their product contains no fat due to the absence of the egg yolk, while the yolk is the main source of fat in Grade A eggs (ConAgra Foods, 2004). This research was able to support our hypothesis that eggs contain large amounts of fat, while Eggbeaters contained no fat.Ê Both our Brown Paper and Solubility experiments tested are predicted to be positive for fat in the natural egg solution, but negative for fat in the Eggbeater solution.
Once we conduction the Brown Paper Bag Test, we found that the Grade A Eggs were translucent and the Eggbeaters were not translucent in all trails. This test supported our hypothesis that Grade A Eggs would test positive for fat and negative for fat in Eggbeaters. The other test of lipids was the Solubility test. This test showed that lipid would dissolve in lighter fluid. When this test was actually preformed the Grade A Egg dissolved almost instantly in the light fluid while the Eggbeaters substance sunk to the bottom of the test tube.Ê This test also supported our hypothesis that Grade A Eggs would test positive for fats and that Eggbeaters would not.Ê Also, remember looking back at one of the original question of do these substances have evident difference in lipid content? We can now answer yes to this question due to the Solubility Test and the Brown Paper Test which showed that Grade A Eggs have a lipid content and the Eggbeaters do not.
In conclusion, we can now give validity to our original hypothesis that Eggbeaters were the same as Grade A Eggs in regards to sugar composition and protein amount, but different in their lipid content and photosynthetic properties. We were able to infer that Eggbeaters and Grade A eggs both contained no sugar, while both contained similar protein amounts.Ê Moreover, Eggbeaters and Grade A Eggs did not contain pigments for carotene but did for chlorophyll b. Also the photosynthetic properties of the Eggbeaters came out to be much greater than the photosynthetic properties of the Grade A Egg. Grade A eggs also contained large amounts of fat or lipids while lipid content results for Eggbeaters came out negative. By comparing the Eggbeaters and Grade A eggs, from this experiment our evidence has supported our hypothesis and it is fair to say that Eggbeaters company claim is true. Although we have analyzed Eggbeaters and Grade A Eggs, we can not say that Eggbeaters is more nutritious due to not testing enough qualities of nutrition, but we can say that Eggbeaterâs claim is correct as far as our research shows. This may be due to the askew definition of what is considered healthy. Future research on other qualities of health by testing and analyzing Eggbeater and Grade A Eggs could help conclude if ãhealthierä substitutes are actually healthier alternatives.