You mentioned that by cooking food, nutrients become readily available for utilization by the body. I also heard this in my freshmen fitness and Health class at Texas Women’s University. I was curious as to how scientist came to this conclusion, so I asked a lot of questions. I have to disagree with you and my professor, and I took a nutritional chemistry class and learned all about how food, nutrition, and the utilization thereof are nothing but a bunch of chemical reactions.

Both cooked and uncooked food contain the same amount of nutrition; it is just that in raw food, the chemical reaction takes place within the body, and in cooked food , the chemical reaction takes place in the frying pan. Scientists have come to their silly conclusion by testing for the nutrients before cooking and after cooking. So you see, if you cook food and test it , of course it is going to test positive for more nutrients as they are testing all the aftereffects of the chemical reactions that have already taken place. When scientist tested raw food, they found the basic vitamins and nutrients that had not undergone their reactions.

The vitamins that survive the heat from cooking can be found in raw foods if the food is chewed well. What is most crucial is that all the food chemical reactions take place with-in the body, and not in the frying pan. Also, all the enzymes found in food must be present when the food is consumed for longevity and good health. Cooked foods forces the body to use its own enzymes causing premature aging and disease.

Ana