Alexander Hollins wrote:
I agree that the "raw food" movement in terms of some claims (that the natural enzymes are needed....err.... what? you digest them into amino acids..) is wrong headed, but... losing nutrition from NOT cooking it? enh?
Yes. That is a counter-intuitive conclusion, but it is well supported in the book.
Actually, you don't lose nutrition, you excrete it. We have had fire for so long, our bodies have lost the ability to digest many uncooked foods. A raw diet that a chimpanzee or other primates thrive on causes malnutrition in humans. Researchers in Germany actually tried that experiment for a month or so. When you cook parts of the chimp diet, it is fine for people. Although some of the fruits that chimps enjoy are too astringent or strong for most humans.
There are even records of people stuck on desert islands and in the Australian outback without fire who had plenty of food yet starved to death. Some did; others were emaciated but lived to tell the tale.
Some foods, especially fruits, are fine to eat raw. Some are more nutritious raw.
- Jed
