What effect does heat really have on...

[Guest guest]

'What effect does heating really have on

nutrients'!!<br><br>An enzyme is defined as 'A protein that acts as a

biological catalyst to speed up a chemical

reaction.'<br><br>Raw fooders typically claim that dietary enzymes,

which are denatured in the heating process, aid in

digestion. There is, as of yet, little evidence for this and

this goes against common theory that proteins, such as

dietary enzymes, are broken down in the stomach by

pepsin, an enzyme capable of digesting proteins, and

Hydrochloric acid. Digestion occurs after this time in the

small intestine. I do not believe that enzymes do what

raw fooders say they do nor do I believe that enzyme

theory is important to raw foods in general.<br><br>For

more on this read Dr Harris's good article 'Raw vs

Cooked'<br><a href=http://www.vegsource.com/harris/raw_vs_cooked.htm

target=new>http://www.vegsource.com/harris/raw_vs_cooked.htm</a><br><br>Another

claim is that the cooking process destroys many

nutrients. First of all minerals are not destroyed or made

organic and therefore unusable, there is no evidence for

this.<br><br>Cooking, such as baking, does effect some vitamins but not

many. <br><br>-Baking- ~20%

thiamin(B1)<br>-Pasteurization- ~10% loss of B vitamins<br>-Some vitamin C is

lost also, but pasteurized orange juice still contains

large amounts of vitamin C.<br>-Some folate is

lost.<br>-Coenzymes such as coenzyme Q10 is destroyed.<br>-Fats

oxidizes but are not made indigestible.<br><br>Boiling in

water can cause some vitamins to lost.<br><br>On the

other hand cooking has been shown to actually increase

the absorption of such nutrients and beta caratone in

carrots.<br><br>The main losses of nutrients are loss through food

processing such the process from whole grains to their white

equivalent.<br><br>To say that most vitamins are destroyed is

ridiculous.<br><br>The nutrient losses coming about from cooking on

there own do not suggest that a diet should be all raw

or even predominantly raw but the healthfulness of

foods are far more complicated than their nutrient

contents. Foods contain many, many chemicals and various

reactions occur during cooking and I'm sure that there is

various negative changes coming from cooking that are not

explained in terms of nutrient losses of the well known

nutrients.<br> <br>Blake