Randomized crossover trial in 10 young resistance-trained men: after a single bout of resistance exercise, subjects ingested either whole eggs or an isonitrogenous amount of egg whites (protein content matched, yolk removed in the egg-white arm), with primed continuous amino-acid tracer infusions used to measure myofibrillar and whole-body muscle protein synthesis. Whole-egg ingestion produced ~40% greater stimulation of postexercise myofibrillar protein synthesis than egg whites, despite equal protein/leucine content, implicating yolk-specific non-protein nutrients (e.g. fat-soluble micronutrients, lipids) as amplifying the anabolic response beyond amino acids alone.
relevance_note: Direct mechanistic RCT evidence that whole-egg (not just isolated egg-protein) intake outperforms an equal-protein comparator for muscle protein synthesis — bears on the “high-quality protein for muscle” thread and, by extension, on eggs’ relevance to elderly/sarcopenia populations even though this trial itself was in young trained men.