THE RAW TRUTH: A LOOK AT THE "RAW FOOD" DIET PRACTICED BY CELEBRITIES

By Dayne Hudson

The beautiful Natalie Portman and Demi Moore are on it.

The lightning fast try scorer that is Manly Sea Eagles winger David "Wolfman" Williams is on it too.

So it must be good? Right?

Jennifer Hawkins favours raw fish.

The idea behind the raw food diet, is that cooking destroys the nutrients in food.

This is true in some cases - but as you'll discover, the science tells us that cooking can actually be MORE beneficial to the amount of nutrients we absorb.

David Williams says his diet consists of uncooked fruit, vegetables, fish and even meat.

Former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins claims raw fish makes up a large portion of her diet.

THE RESEARCH

Let's start with raw eggs.

Rocky did it, and the Wolfman says he starts the day with raw eggs in a glass too.

So surely it works?

Sylvester Stallone as "Rocky" downing raw eggs for breakfast.

Unfortunately for these two heroic sportsmen, the research doesn't back up their claims.

One study (1) found that only 50% of raw egg protein is absorbed. It also discovered that protein from COOKED eggs is absorbed MUCH better - at a rate of 91%.

The researchers say that structural changes occur within the protein molecule after heating.

Also - there's a risk of running into salmonella by consuming eggs raw.

Salmonella is a bacteria found within infected hens that can find it's way into their eggs - and into your mouth.

Yes - not even sporting champions like Rocky and the Wolfman are immune!

Don't run the risk.

Manly's try scoring machine, David "Wolfman" Williams.

THE RAW TRUTH

Cooking food at high temperatures (barbecued or fried) can cause a loss of nutrients and form toxic compounds.

Many studies (1a-7) tell us that mutagens (a physical or chemical agent that changes genetic material) form when we cook meat at HIGH temperatures.

This can also heigthen our risk of cancer.

But there are ways around it - making sure our grill is always clean, not having the temperature too hot, and even cutting up our beef so it cooks quicker and doesn't burn.

Essentially - you don't HAVE to eat meat raw to avoid these risks.

VEGETABLES

Taking a look at broccoli, a very popular vegetable LOADED with goodies, and yes, depending on how it's cooked, nutrient losses are seen.

STEAMING broccoli seems to be the best bet.

One study (8) examined broccoli, cooking it in 5 different ways: steaming, microwaving, boiling, stir-frying, and stir-frying followed by boiling (stir-frying/boiling). To quote from the research - they found:

All cooking treatments, except steaming, caused a dramatic loss of vitamin C
The greatest loss of vitamin C was observed in broccoli after stir-frying/boiling and boiling treatments (38% and 33%, respectively) followed by microwaving and stir-frying (16% and 24%, respectively).

But here's the important finding by the researchers - "steaming did not cause any significant loss of vitamin C, compared with the raw sample."

And as far as carotenoids go: "microwaving, steaming, and stir-frying mostly kept the content of total carotenoids after cooking while boiling and stir-frying/boiling caused the loss of total carotenoids by 13% and 28%, respectively."

Also, further research (12) found that steamed broccoli was superior to RAW broccoli, with the steaming resuling in higher levels of glucosinolates - cancer fighter compounds!

VERDICT: Steam your broccoli.

It's clear that cooking CAN be unfavourable to broccoli, but on the flip side, cooking other vegetables have been found to destroy the nasty anti-nutrients that tie down minerals in your stomach that get in the way of nutrient absorption.

Basically, destroying these anti-nutrients INCREASES absorption.

CARROTS

One study (9) into carrots found that just 3-4% of carotenoids were absorbed when raw carrots were eaten, compared to 15-20% from mashed and cooked carrots.

And in terms of tomatoes, many studies have found the antioxidants in cooked tomatoes have more activity that in uncooked tomatoes.

PESTICIDES

Cooking may also help decrease the level of pesticides in our vegetables.

One study (10) looked at pesticide levels in beans and corn after washing and/or peeling plus cooking.

The verdict?

Cooking REDUCED the level of pesticides in both of these vegetables.

So it seems cooking is the BEST option.

RAW FISH V's COOKED FISH

Salmon is generally what is consumed raw, and the research here is VERY limited. But what we DO know is that baked salmon causes no losses of omega 3 fatty acids (11).

The fish was cooked at a temperature of 63 degrees celsius.

So whether we eat it raw, or bake it properly, we shouldn't have an issue.

Although I will point out, that the researchers here found found that the baking of the salmon decreased the presence of fatty acid oxidation byproducts.

CONCLUSION

The science behind these raw food diets just doesn't stack up, so think twice before diving into raw recipes! Cook your food, but just be sure you don't over do it.

Stay Fit, Stay Flexed!

REFERENCES

1. Evenepoel P, Geypens B, Luypaerts A, Hiele M, Ghoos Y, Rutgeerts P. Digestibility of cooked and raw egg protein in humans as assessed by stable isotope te chiniques. J. Nutr. October 1, 1998 vol. 128 no. 10 1716-1722.

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2. Augustsson K, Skog K, Jagerstad M, et al. Dietary heterocyclic amines and cancer of the colon, rectum, bladder, and kidney: a population-based study. Lancet. 1999;353:703–7. 3. Sinha R, Knize MG, Salmon CP, et al. Heterocyclic amine content of pork products cooked by different methods and to varying degrees of doneness. Food Chem Toxicol. 1998;36:289–97.

4. Sinha R, Rothman N, Salmon CP, et al. Heterocyclic amine content in beef cooked by different methods to varying degrees of doneness and gravy made from meat drippings. Food Chem Toxicol.1998;36:279–87.

5. Kazerouni N, Sinha R, Hsu CH, et al. Analysis of 200 food items for benzo[a]pyrene and estimation of its intake in an epidemiologic study. Food Chem Toxicol. 2001;39:423–36.

6. Knize MG, Dolbeare FA, Cunningham PL, et al. Mutagenic activity and heterocyclic amine content of the human diet. Princess Takamatsu Symp. 1995;23:30–8.

7. Sinha R, Rothman N, Brown ED, et al. High concentrations of the carcinogen 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo- [4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) occur in chicken but are dependent on the cooking method.Cancer Res. 1995;55:4516–9.

8. Gao-feng Yuan et al. Effects of different cooking methods on health-promoting compounds of broccoli. J Zhejiang Univ Sci B. 2009 August; 10(8): 580–588.

9. Tydeman EA et al. Effect of carrot (daucus carota) microstructure on carotene bioaccessibility in the upper gastrointestinal tract in vitro simulation of carrot digestion. J Agric Food Chem. 2010 Sep 8;58(17):9847-54. doi: 10.1021/jf101034a.

10. Schattenberg HJ III, Geno PW, Hsu JP, Fry WG, Parker RP. Effect of household preparation on levels of pesticide residues in produce. J AOAC Int 1996;79:1447-53.

11. Raatz S.K., Golovko M.Y., Brose S.A., Rosenberger T.A., Burr G.S., Wolters W.R., Picklo M.J., Sr. Baking reduces prostaglandin, resolvin, and hydroxy-fatty acid content of farm-raised Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) J. Agric. Food Chem. 2011;59:11278–11286. doi: 10.1021/jf202576k.

12. M.C. Lopez-Berenguer et al. Effects of microwave cooking conditions on bioactive compounds present in broccoli in orescenes. J. Agric. Food. Chem.,55(24):10001-10007,2007.