Albumin facts for kids

Albumin is a special type of protein. Proteins are like tiny building blocks that make up living things. Albumin can easily dissolve in water. You can find albumin in your blood and also in the white part of an egg.

What is Albumin?

Albumin is a type of globular protein. This means its shape is like a tiny ball. These proteins are special because they can easily mix with water and disappear, just like sugar dissolves in tea.

Where Do We Find Albumin?

You can find albumin in a few important places:

• In your blood: A lot of albumin is in your blood serum. Blood serum is the clear, yellowish liquid part of your blood that is left after blood cells and clotting factors are removed. Albumin helps carry important things around your body, like nutrients and medicines. It also helps keep the right amount of water in your blood vessels.
• In egg whites: The clear part of an egg, called the egg white, is mostly made of albumin. This protein helps protect the yolk and provides food for a growing chick.

How Albumin Helps Us

Albumin has several important jobs:

• Carrying things: In your blood, albumin acts like a tiny delivery truck. It carries important substances, such as hormones, vitamins, and medicines, to different parts of your body.
• Keeping balance: Albumin helps keep the right amount of fluid in your blood vessels. This stops too much fluid from leaking out into your body's tissues.
• Egg freshness: In eggs, albumin helps us know how fresh an egg is.

The Albumin Index for Eggs

The "albumin index" is a simple way to check how fresh an egg is. When you crack an egg onto a flat surface, the egg white (which contains albumin) will spread out.

• A very fresh egg will have a thick white that stays close to the yolk and does not spread much.
• An older egg will have a thinner white that spreads out much more. This is because the albumin in the egg white breaks down over time, making it runnier.

See also

In Spanish: Albúmina para niños