The supplement market is flooded with products boasting often outrageous claims. Therefore, when MYOS RENS Technology Inc., the producer of YOLKED® reached out to me to try their new product created from fertilized egg yolk I was immediately skeptical. After reading through a couple of scientific studies they had on their product, I decided to give them a try. Here are my thoughts to help you decide if you should pick up some YOLKED® to get ready for 2019:
Product
YOLKED® is fertilized egg yolk that has been processed into a delicious powder form. According to MYOS REN, after a yolk is fertilized, “a cascade of biochemical pathways are turned on which produce proteins, peptides, and growth and differentiation factors that are not present in an unfertilized egg”. The concept is that when a human consumes these fertilized yolks some of the positive benefits can be transferred to your own muscle building and recovery efforts. The product is supposed to be taken with other protein to enhance recovery and muscle building.
Taste and Consistency
The first time I opened a packet and saw what looked like yellow crumbs I thought it was a little weird. The packet says to pour directly into your mouth or sprinkle on some other food (ex. cereal, yogurt, etc.). I went with the former. After a couple of days, I not only stopped thinking it was weird, I started craving it. I think it tastes great and look forward to eating it with my protein after a hard workout or before bedtime. For taste, it is an easy 5/5.
Initial Concerns
My initial concern was the nutrition facts. Since it is made of egg yolk, I was expecting a large amount of saturated fat or possibly sugar to help offset a bad taste. The product has some saturated fat but it is only 1.5 g and almost no sugar (1 g), both well within reason of something I’m willing to consume on a daily basis or multiple times a day.
Similar to other supplements, my second concern, was the ingredient list and ensuring nothing was banned by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) or violates the spirit of sports. Since the ingredients for YOLKED® include “fertilized egg yolk” and that’s it, it is safe to say that this is allowed. Plus, they even have the NSF Certified for Sport logo on the outside to further reassure you. NSF is independent and accredited non-governmental organization whose mission is to protect and improve global human health that test products for banned substances.
Clinical Results
Clinical trials have produced positive results, with the YOLKED® group showing increased muscle mass and thickness over the placebo group (read about it here). While it wasn’t a huge amount, there was measurable muscle gain and 3 times as much as the placebo group. I’m a firm believer in marginal gains: if I do enough small things that produce subtle improvements and multiply them by a long enough timeline, my progress will be significantly greater than my peers. The clinical study was 12 weeks long, so if you multiply that by years of consistent training, the results may become even more profound.
My Results
Measuring results from personal experience is always a challenge. Are the improvements and gains I’m making from changing my workout, my daily diet, the placebo effect or something else? I personally started taking YOLKED® the week after World's Toughest Mudder 2018. I can say I feel like I recovered faster than ever after the event. While I won’t say the only reason was YOLKED®, I do think it contributed to my recovery. I'm already back to training with weights for the off season and feeling great.
While this empirical data may convince some, others want biomarkers. Surprisingly, I have those thanks to InsideTracker. My blood tests show I'm doing well without any negative effects that could be attributed to the fertilized egg yolks. Was the benefit caused by my YOLKED® consumption? I think it helped but just like the empirical data it is hard to isolate.
Why choose YOLKED® over other alternatives?
Whenever choosing a supplement, it is important to ask, “Why choose this over other products?” For example, why not just eat egg yolks? The egg yolks you buy in the store are unfertilized thus do not include any potential benefits of fertilized eggs. Furthermore, YOLKED® is much more convenient. I can put a package of YOLKED® in my gym bag which is a lot easier than carrying around a cooler with eggs in it. I can keep it in my pocket and eat it during a meeting without making a scene. Convenience is the reason we take all supplements and YOLKED® provides this with their easy to carry and easy to open packages.
Overall
I think YOLKED® is a great product for those looking to help speed recovery, increase performance or improve lean muscle mass/reduce fat. YOLKED® is convenient, tastes great and has research to back up its claims. For those looking for a convenient way to improve recovery while consuming real food plus getting the benefits of fertilized egg yolks, this is the perfect product to add to your supplement lineup. They just launched the product line and it is now available for purchase here.
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