Raw foodism

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Raw foodism (or 'rawism') is a lifestyle promoting the consumption of uncooked, unprocessed, and often organic foods as a large percentage of the diet. Depending on the type of lifestyle and results desired, raw food diets may include a selectıon of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds (including sprouted whole grains), eggs, fish, meat, and unpasteurized dairy products (such as raw milk, cheese and yogurt). A raw foodist (or 'rawist') is a person who consumes primarily raw food, or all raw food, depending on how strict the diet is. Raw foodists typically believe that the greater the percentage of raw food in the diet, the greater the health benefits.

Members of the raw food community claim that raw food encourages weight loss and prevents and/or heals many forms of sickness and many chronic diseases. Critics of this nutritional approach argue that archaeological and anthropological evidence as well as medical research suggest that cooking is obligatory for humans.^[1][2][3]

Contents 1 Background 1.1 History 1.2 Beliefs 2 Research 2.1 Early 20th century 2.2 Recent research 3 Raw food diets 3.1 Food preparation 3.2 Avoiding poisoning 4 Raw food movement 5 Criticism and controversies 5.1 Food enzymes in the stomach 5.2 Dental malocclusion and cooked food 5.3 Potential damage 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading

[edit] Background

[edit] History

The consumption of raw food is a practice among animal species. Archaeological evidence suggests that the controlled use of fire pre-dates the modern human and was first used by Homo erectus or Homo ergaster.^[4]

Raw foods gained prominence throughout the 1900s, as proponents such as Ann Wigmore and Herbert Shelton claimed that a diet of raw fruits and vegetables is the ideal diet for humans. Interest in the "Raw Foods Movement" continues to grow today, and especially prevalent in the Western United States, like California where many resources are available for one to learn more about and practice a raw foods lifestyle.

Artturi Virtanen (1895-1973), showed that enzymes in uncooked foods are released in the mouth when vegetables are chewed. It is believed that these enzymes interact with other substances, notably the enzymes produced by the body itself, to aid the digestion process.

Francis M. Pottenger, Jr.'s laboratory work with generations of cats fed on either cooked or raw foods concluded that a diet exclusively of raw milk and meat was the only adequate intake of nutrition which insured the maintenance of optimal health for the cats.

Leslie Kenton's book, The New Raw Energy, in 1984 popularized food such as sprouts, seeds, and fresh vegetable juices, which have become staples in many different food cultures. The book brought together research into raw foodism and its support of health, citing examples such as the sprouted seed enriched diets of the long lived Hunza people, as well as Max Gerson's claim of a raw juice-based cancer cure. The book advocates a diet of 75% raw food in order to prevent degenerative diseases, slow the effects of aging, provide enhanced energy, and boost emotional balance.

Restaurants catering to a raw food diet have opened in large cities,^[5] and numerous all-raw cookbooks have been published.^[6]

Currently, there exist many proponents of the Raw Foods lifestyle, that have resources available on proper nutrition and transitional lifestyle diet changes. Among them, include Matt Monarch, Angela Stokes, David Jubb Ph.D., Norman Walker Ph.D., Douglas Graham Ph.D., David Wolfe, Alissa Cohen, and Paul Nison. Vast resources, including forums, recipes, personal testimony, nutritional guides, medical information, and products exist online as well and are available for anyone interested in researching Raw Foods.

In the documentary film "Supercharge Me!" an overweight woman filmed her experience of eating exclusively raw fruits and vegetables for 30 days to show the results, taking the opposite approach of, "Super Size Me."

[edit] Beliefs

Common beliefs held by raw foodists:

• Raw foods contain enzymes which aid digestion, meaning that the body's own enzymes may work unimpeded in regulating the body's metabolic processes, and heating food above 110-120 degrees Fahrenheit degrades or destroys these enzymes in food.
• Eating food without enzymes makes digestion more difficult, which could lead to toxicity in the body and cause excess consumption of food, obesity and chronic disease.
• Raw foods contain bacteria and other micro-organisms that affect the immune system and digestion by populating the digestive tract with gut flora.
• Raw foods have higher nutrient values than foods which have been cooked.
• Wild foods, particularly edible wild plants, are the most nutritious raw foods.^[7][8]
• Freezing food is acceptable, even though freezing lowers enzyme activity.

[edit] Research

[edit] Early 20th century

A 1933 paper by E. B. Forbes says, "Cooking renders food pasty, so that it sticks to the teeth, and undergoes acid fermentation. Furthermore, the cooking of food greatly diminishes the need for use of the teeth; and thus tends to diminish the circulation of blood to the jaws and teeth, and to produce under-development of the maxillary and contiguous bones—thus leading to contracted dental arches, and to malocclusion and impaction of the teeth, with complications of great seriousness."^[9]

In a 1936 work entitled Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, dentist Weston A. Price observed dental degeneration in the first generation who abandoned traditional nutrient dense foods which included unprocessed raw foods e.g. un-pasteurised milk products, fruit and dried meats. Price claimed that the parents of such first generation children had excellent jaw development and dental health, while their children had malocclusion and tooth decay and attributed this to their new modern insufficient nutrient diet (which would have included a proportion of raw food).

Dr. Edward Howell, an Illinois physician, wrote Food Enzymes for Health & Longevity in 1941. Forty years later he published Enzyme Nutrition And "Eat Me Raw", Two books which claimed that the pancreas is forced to work harder on a diet of cooked foods, and that food enzymes are just as essential to digestion as the body's self-generated enzymes, claims which have not been verified. The book was based largely on ideas from his previous book, and ideas derived from flawed enzyme research from the 1930s before it was established that enzymes were proteins.

[edit] Recent research

Researchers at the University of Toronto and another published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute suggest that ingesting uncooked or unpasteurized dairy products may reduce the risk of colon cancer. Mice and rats fed uncooked sucrose, casein, and beef tallow had one third to one fifth the incidence of microadenomas as the mice and rats fed the same ingredients cooked.^[10][11]

Several studies published since 1990 indicate that cooking muscle meat creates heterocyclic amines (HCAs), which are thought to increase cancer risk in humans. Researchers at the National Cancer Institute published results of a study which found that human subjects who ate beef rare or medium-rare had less than one third the risk of stomach cancer than those who ate beef medium-well or well-done.^[12] While eating muscle meat raw may be the only way to avoid HCAs fully, the National Cancer Institute states that cooking meat below 212 °F (100 °C) creates "negligible amounts" of HCAs. Also, microwaving meat before cooking may reduce HCAs by 90%.^[12]

German research in 2003 showed significant benefits in reducing breast cancer risk when large amounts of raw vegetable matter are included in the diet. The authors attribute some of this effect to heat-labile phytonutrients.^[13]

[edit] Raw food diets

The following popular diets include only raw foods:

Diet	Raw foods included in the diet	Notable adherents
Instinctive eating (anopsology)	fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and meat–typically excludes dairy	Guy-Claude Burger, Bruno Comby, Renato F. Sison, M.D., Severen L.Schaeffer.
Fruitarianism	fruit, nuts and seeds, and sometimes greens, sprouted grains & legumes	Morris Krok
Primal diet	fatty meats, dairy and vegetable juices[14]	Aajonus Vonderplanitz
Raw foodism	Food from all food groups (unheated or warmed to a temp less than 105 degrees)
Raw veganism	fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouted grains and legumes	David Wolfe, Dr. Gabriel Cousens,
Low-fat 80 10 10 diet raw veganism	fruit, vegetables, limited amounts of nuts and seeds (if any)
Raw vegetarianism	fruit, vegetables, sprouts, nuts, seeds, grains, legumes, dairy, eggs and honey
Raw Paleolithic Diet	Meat, organ-meats, fruit, vegetables, honey, nuts, fish, shellfish, eggs - excludes dairy, grains,legumes and vegetable juices[15]
Wai diet	fruit, nuts, fish, and eggs[16]
The Garden Diet	fruit, vegetables, sea vegetables, sprouts, nuts, seeds, honey, Celtic sea salt, olive and flax seed oils[17]

[edit] Food preparation

Many foods in raw food diets are simple to prepare, such as fruits, salads, meat, and dairy. Other foods can require considerable advanced planning to prepare for eating. Rice and some other grains, for example, require sprouting or overnight soaking to become digestible. Many raw foodists believe it is best to soak nuts before eating them, in order to activate their enzymes, and deactivate enzyme inhibitors.

Preparation of gourmet raw food recipes usually call for a blender, food processor, juicer, and dehydrator. Depending on the recipe, some food (such as crackers, breads and cookies) may need to be dehydrated. These processes, which produce foods with the taste and texture of cooked food, are lengthy. Some raw foodists dispense with these foods, feeling that there is no need to emulate the other non-raw diets.^{[citation needed]}

Care may be required in planning a raw food diet, especially for children. There is little research on how to plan a nutritionally adequate raw food diet; however, nutritionists and raw M.D.s are usually willing to provide professional advice.^{[citation needed]} Raw foodists claim that with sufficient food energy, essential fatty acids, variety and density, people of all ages can be successful at eating raw foods, although whether the diet works for any one person depends on their unique metabolism. In 2007, Tonya Kay's raw vegan diet was nutritionally analyzed and published in an eBook entitled "Raw Nutritional Analysis - A month on Tonya Kay's autumn diet". On average, her vitamin and nutrient intake was found to be superior to the FDA requirements.^[18]

[edit] Avoiding poisoning

As the consumption of raw foods gains popularity, some unsafe foods have re-entered the diets of humans. The following should be consumed with caution:

• Buckwheat greens are toxic when raw, particularly if juiced or eaten in large quantities by fair skinned individuals. The chemical component fagopyrum is known to cause severe photosensitivity and other dermatological complaints.^[19][20]
• Kidney beans, including sprouts, are toxic when raw.^[21]
• Rhubarb: when eaten in sufficient quantity, leaves can be toxic when raw, stalks are completely safe to eat when harvested early.
• Potatoes: a member of the nightshade family, can produce the toxic alkaloid solanine. The flesh of the potato just beneath the skins is usually green if solanine is present, but one may be present without the other. Solanine can be removed by peeling the potatoes, or neutralized by cooking in a deep fryer.^[22] In processed potatoes such as chips and fries, there is little hazard since peels are removed and they are fried.^[23][24]
• Raw foods contain bacteria and may contain parasites, which may cause foodborne illnesses. Washing properly according to Health Department will cleanse the food properly along with proper storage.

[edit] Raw food movement

Early proponents include Johnny Love-Wisdom, Ann Wigmore and Viktoras Kulvinskas (co-founders of the Hippocrates Health Institute),^[25] Arnold Ehret (author and advocate of fasting), A Hovannessian and Norman W. Walker (who advocated the consumption of juices, living up to the age of 99 years).^{[citation needed]}

Notable contemporary proponents include several published authors and lecturers such as David Wolfe, Dr. Gabriel Cousens, Victoria Boutenko and Sarma Melngailis.

The principles of Natural hygiene promote a mainly raw vegan diet.{^{[citation needed]} Famous natural hygienists have included Herbert Shelton and Anthony Robbins.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Criticism and controversies

Advocates argue that nonhumans (that eat uncooked food) exhibit lower instances of degenerative diseases and therefore, if humans refrained from cooking their food, they wouldn't contract these diseases at current rates either. However, animals in the wild have been shown to suffer from arthritis,^[26] cancer,^[27] liver and kidney diseases,^[28]and degenerative brain diseases,^[29], and it is not known if the rate of instances is lower than that in humans, nor if there is any correlation between these ailments and pollutants created by human presence. Furthermore, the great deal of resources humans devote to promoting their own health and eliminating early infectious and traumatic causes of death reshapes human mortality toward slower, more difficult to treat causes, associated with old age (i.e. degenerative diseases). Archaeological and anthropological evidence as well as medical research suggest that cooking is obligatory for humans.^[1][2][3]

[edit] Food enzymes in the stomach

Some raw foodists claim that ingesting enzymes aids digestion in the mouth, stomach, and intestines. These claims, however, go against well established knowledge regarding the function and biochemistry of enzymes in digestion. Specific human digestive enzymes are secreted into the gastrointestinal tract, each catalyzing a specific reaction in the digestion of food from macromolecules to small molecules which can be absorbed over the epithelium of the small intestine by active transport. Most plant enzymes will fulfill completely different roles important for metabolism in the plant; the majority will be denatured in passage through the acidic stomach; and others will lack required cofactors in the intestine, rendering them useless in digestion. Accordingly, there is no evidence that ingestion of raw foods or plant enzymes aids digestion under normal conditions. Also, commonly enzymes are very sensitive to pH and their activity will be nullified outside a specific pH range.^[30] The digestive enzymes produced by the stomach are active in the low pH (2-4) of the stomach, whereas enzymes found in most foods will be most active at cellular pH (approximately 7).^[31]. Some enzymes found in acidic plant foods such as fruits are active at low pH similar to that of the human stomach, but there is no evidence that they participate in digestion.

Some fruitarians counter that dietary enzymes such as bromelain and a protected form of SOD have been shown to be absorbed through the intestines and into the bloodstream. This is a misunderstanding of the process of digestion: all ingested enzymes (including bromelain and SOD) are proteins themselves, and can be digested to free amino acids by human proteases and peptidase in the stomach and intestine - allowing the absorption of these (but no functional enzyme) into the bloodstream.

[edit] Dental malocclusion and cooked food

The earliest indisputable archaeological evidence for the use of fire to prepare food dates to approximately 350,000 years ago.^[32] Other evidence traces cooking to more than 1.5 million years ago, well before the emergence of modern humans.^[33] Evolutionary evidence indicates that the musculature and bone structure of the jaw evolved away from forms most suited for eating tough raw foods.^[1]

Some critics believe that based on this evidence humans have evolved to eat cooked foods. Advocates counter that this is repudiated by the incidence of malocclusion found in cooked-food-eating populations. However, this claim is disputed by dentists who state that malocclusion tends to be an inherited trait.^[34] Some research contradicts common opinion amongst dental practitioners and shows that malocclusion is essentially an acquired, and therefore avoidable, trait.^[35]

[edit] Potential damage

A 2005 study has shown that a raw food vegetarian diet is associated with a lower bone density.^[36] This may not be a problem however, as new research appears to indicate that high bone density early in life is associated with osteoporosis, regardless of genetic variation.^[37]

Douglas N. Graham (a raw foodism advocate) warns that most raw diets obtain a high percentage of daily calories from fats, by including significant amounts of avocado, nuts and seeds. According to him, these diets tend to be unsustainable since too much fat, even raw fat, causes health problems and results in the underconsumption of carbohydrates. He promotes a low-fat raw vegan diet which draws the great bulk of its daily calories from fruits, along with liberal amounts of vegetables and small amounts of nuts and seeds.^[38]

One study of raw veganism shows amenorrhea and underweightness in women,^[39] another one increased risk of dental erosion.^[40]

[edit] See also

• Cooking
• Food safety
• Healthy diet

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• On the synergistic effects of enzymes in food with enzymes in the human body. A literature survey and analytical report Prochaska LJ and Piekutowski WV, Medical Hypotheses 42: 355-62 (1994).
• Rebuilding the Food Pyramid by Walter C. Willett and Meir J. Stampfer, Scientific American January 2003.
• The effects of heat-processed food... on the dento-facial structure of animals by E.M.Pottenger, American Journal of Orthodontics and Oral Surgery August 1946, p467
• Human 'dental chaos' linked to evolution of cooking, John Pickrell New Scientist 29 April 2005