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Raw Food Diet Myths

Some nutrients are destroyed by cooking but some nutrients become more absorbable.

August 29, 2010 |
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Supplementary Info

Raw Food Diet Myths, 4.8 out of 5 based on 6 ratings

Sources Cited

Donaldson MS. Food and Nutrient Intake of Hallelujah Vegetarians. Nutrition & Food Science Volume 31 . Number 6 . 2001 . pp. 293±303

Acknowledgements

Image thanks to Robin Zebrowski

Transcript

Is it better to eat our vegetables raw or cooked? If you're thinking raw, you're right! But if you guessed cooked, you're also right! A number of nutrients like vitamin C are partially destroyed by cooking. On the other hand, some nutrients become more absorbable upon cooking. For example, we get three times more antioxidants in cooked carrots than raw. More cancer fighting indoles in cooked broccoli and more lycopene in cooked tomatoes. Leavening increases the mineral absorption in grain products and dry roasting can increase the mineral absorption from nuts. There's no good evidence that raw diets are superior to other whole foods, plant based diets. In fact, the published evidence that does exist is fairly disappointing. The only dietary survey that I'm aware of found raw food diets deficient in energy, protein, vitamins B12 and D, calcium, selenium and zinc. There are a number of seriously flawed myths that circulate within the raw foods community like the belief that we only have a limited amount of enzymes in our body that somehow get used up and so we need to consume live plant enzymes which are deactivated by cooking. Well they're deactivated by our stomach acid too, but even if they weren't specific enzymes catalyze specific reactions within our body and since we're not plants, we have no need for plant enzymes. Our body makes all the enzymes we need to function from the protein we eat and cooking actually renders proteins more digestible. So i advocate eating a combination of cooked and raw foods. Having said that, we should all be eating down huge salads everyday. We could easily polish off five cups of spinach in one sitting and that's how we have to think of greens, not as some little over-cooked side servings. If for whatever reason you want to eat 100% raw, first of course you have to take a B12 supplement. Second, a diet based on modern cultivated fruits is not nutritionally adequate.They're a pale shadow of the wild fruits eaten by our ape ancestors. To improve the nutritional content, one would have to add at least a half kilo a day of dark green leafies, 5 to 10 cups and at least 50 grams a day of nuts and seeds, about half a cup. And third, i explicitly recommend against raw food diets for young children, as they just don't have the stomach capacity. Although an all raw food diet can be healthy, there is no reliable evidence to suggest that it's more healthy than a diet of whole plant foods, cooked or not. 

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org

Dr. Michael Greger

Doctor's Note

Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. Also, there are 1,449 other subjects covered in the rest of my videos--please feel free to explore them as well!

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/veguyan/ Veguyan

    I heard that the lycopene boost from raw tomatoes in a Vitamix is just as potent as the lycopene boost from a cooked tomato sauce. I heard this from a Raw Fooder.

    What do you say?

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

      I’m afraid your raw fooder friend may have been misinformed. As you can see here, the heating itself seems to improve the bioavailability of lycopene. I would not be surprised if the blending helped too, though, so you could blend and heat and have the best of both worlds :)

      • LynnCS

        Going to have to get my lycopene somewhere else. Hate warm/heated/cooked tomatoes. I have always loved vegis right out of the garden, so raw suits my taste. I think if you eat a variety of vegis, you’re probably not going to get enough of one thing like goitrogens to make a difference. But I do like broccoli and other cabbage relatives slightly steamed. Mostly I like them cooled and put in my salads. Try cold cooked Brussels Sprouts in a great salad that includes salty olives and sweet raisins with a dressing of orange squeezins and a dash of lemon. I do love my raw food, but include some steamed. No point in being so rigid about it. I would like to see the studies though. Many people on both sides of the issue don’t back it up with studies. I appreciate your research, Dr. Greger.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=812724548 Robert Freedomfighter

      But Lycopene isn’t the whole world.

      As far as I know there are about 10.000 different chemicals in tomatoes.
      What happen to all these when we cook them?
      A lot of it is probably destroyed.

      • albert

        Valid point, I guess. Why not to eat some of them cooked and some raw, right? :) I do love tomatoes in any edible form – can’t wait for a summer to enjoy everything naturally grown and ripe..

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/myjolina/ Laura Scalia

    Fact or Fiction? raw foodists insist on sprouting all their seeds and nuts for the best digestive consumption. Is it really necessary? If I don’t sprout my sesame seeds before I add them to my kale chips am I really losing out?? If I grind my flax seeds vs. sprouting them – is there really a difference in the way they are metabolized in my body?

    Do you have a whole list, other than those mentioned here, of veggies that are better for us when cooked?

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

    I am curious to know myjolina’s question as well. I always here about lycopene but thats just one single anti oxidant. What else is benefited nutrition wise from cooked food vs raw food.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/jennifer-c/ Jennifer C.

    I agree with the above posts. A review of the foods that are better eaten raw would be a great idea for another video on Nutritionfacts.org. (Hint, hint!) :-)
    There are two videos already posted on cooking methods and nutrient absorption: http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/raw-food-nutrient-absorption-2/ and http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/raw-food-nutrient-absorption-3/
    It is my understanding that a mixed raw and cooked approach is best. Cooking certain foods can increase their nutrient content, and in addition, help to decrease “anti-nutrients” (that bind to essential minerals) and inactivate certain substances that may be problematic if consumed in high amounts (like goitrogens). For example, cooking may help inactivate the goitrogenic compounds in broccoli. Soaking and boiling beans, leavening grains, and heating tomatoes are other good examples of traditional cooking techniques that may be beneficial. On the other hand, fruits and nuts (like pineapples, avocados, and almonds) are generally considered healthier in their raw state.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/jubilee/ Jubilee

    I stumbled across the
    so called 80 10 10 diet on http://www.30bananasaday.com

    Can you tell me if this diet is great and healthy? Or do people following it risk malnutrition?

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/georgei/ GeorgeI

    Bravo!

    The vegan community is overrun with even intelligent people promoting raw foodism, simply on the force of personality rather than actually reading anything about the validity of the beliefs.

    It has gotten so bad I just keep my mouth shut about it so I don’t end up friendless.

    This video is going on my blog and my Facebook page.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/jameskb/ JamesKB

    Modern fruits a pale shadow of the fruits we used to eat. Where does this come from? What do they lack?

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

      Fruits have actually become more nutritious and hardier due to domestic “breeding”. Greens on the other hand have been grown to be less bitter and this bitterness accounts for very powerful phytonutrients which are now in lesser amounts.

      • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/jameskb/ JamesKB

        I’m after references

        • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

          It is in one of Dr. Greger’s videos, I forget which one exactly.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ana-S-Cunha-Vestergaard/700425545 Ana S. Cunha Vestergaard

    This video is available with Portuguese subtitles at my blog’s youtube channel:
    Este vídeo está disponível com legendas em português no canal do meu blog no youtube:

    Ana C Vestergaard
    http://www.deolhonoseuprato.com

    • Michael Greger M.D.

       Eu realmente aprecio sua ajuda difundir esta informação para salvar vidas

      • http://www.facebook.com/tiernan.ryan Tiernan Mark Ryan

        Hi Michael, what is your opinion on the 80/10/10 diet? As another viewer asked above previously? thanks!

  • popo911

    In a later video you say that it is a myth that produce today lost most of their nutrients, and lose less than 20% on average. But in this video you say you cannot base your diet on fruits because they are a “pale shadow” of what they should be. It sounds like an inconsistency to me. A fruit based diet is perhaps the only sustainable raw diet because a nut staple has too much fat and not enough carbohydrate, and a leaf staple simply don’t have the calories. I know I did well for years on a fruit based diet (yes with b12 sup). Fruit is a wonderful alternative to the beans/whole grains staple paradigm in vegan diets.

    • herbalist

      If one was to go on a literal “fruit diet” I agree that it is lacking in nutrients. Some examples include but are not limited to; b vitamins, omega 3 oils, protein etc.

      Though if one was to go on a botanical description of a fruit diet that included avacados, nuts, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc that would be more nutritious.

      Though I still believe that both diets would be nutrient deficent.

       Some examples of nutrients would be b vitamins,and sustained energy sources(whole grains cause a slow rise in blood sugar that plateaus and is sustained over 4-5 hours vs many small meals of fruit). Many small meals in comparison to whole grains spike up blood sugar levels quickly then drop quickly(similar to sucrose, but not as quickly) which in turn puts an extra burden on the pancreas. This extra burden wears out the pancreas over time.

          Not to mention digestion problems as many small meals interfere with proper digestion time. Thus as a result, transatory time is off set which then leads to putrefaction. Putrefaction, in the large and small intestines then leads to cancer, IBS, altered ph balance, etc

       Furthermore, there are various methods(3) that the body uses to convert foods into sugar that the human body runs on. The most efficent conversion system that the human body utilizes is based on starches. Thus elimination of the most efficent energy source of conversion does have side effects. Some side effects are catabolism of muscles, increased alternate energy pathway by-products such as amonia etc. These by products wear out the bodys organs at an increased rate.

      Thus total elimination of grains, or eating a diet of fruit will have its problems….Thus in my opinion a reduced diet of grains makes more sense.

                                                fats                        10 *
                                              protein                      20
                                         whole grains                   30
                          fruit-vegetables 60 raw- 40 cooked   50

      *  Figures may vary somewhat +/- 5-10% depending on body type metabolism activity levels etc.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Padric-OFish/100001855682804 Padric O’Fish

    Thank you or creating this video. Staying on top the published data is critical.

  • Toni

    Where can I find scientific proof that plant enzymes are deactivated by our stomach acid? I want to show it to a raw fooder who’s teaching everyone that if we don’t eat everything raw we won’t get enough enzymes and our body has to use it’s own enzymes and they won’t last for long. Eventually all the body’s enzymes have been used and we’ll get sick and die…

  • danka

    I would like to ask whether it is appropriate to include the food combination chart – food is sorted according digestion.

    And if it is really necessary to eat fruit only on an empty stomach and just by it self … or else can ferment

    Thank you very much

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