Studio Oxygen

The raw foods diet has a loyal following of fans, and celebrities ranging from Demi Moore to Woody Harrelson swear by it. So why raw foods?

Claims about raw food benefits are based on the premise that humans ate uncooked and unprocessed food for thousands of years, and our bodies have evolved to get the most nourishment out of foods that are as close as possible to their natural state. Though some view it as a new fad diet, eating raw foods is a practice as old as mankind itself.

One of the primary claims about raw food benefits concerns the importance of enzymes. Enzymes are the proteins that serve as catalysts for different reactions in the body, and digestive enzymes such as amylases and proteases break down the starch and proteins present in food.

The pancreas and liver primarily produce these digestive enzymes, but many raw foodists believe that they can also be ingested by eating raw fruits and vegetables, which all contain enzymes in their raw state. Heating food above 110-118 degrees kills these natural enzymes.

If more foods are consumed uncooked, the theory goes, the body needs to secrete fewer enzymes for digestion and can instead use these enzymes for more important cellular metabolic functions.Cooking food leads to an “enzymeless” diet that places undue strain on the digestive organs, and some raw foodists even blame the role of cooking in the modern diet for the rise of many degenerative diseases.

Critics argue that that this claim about raw food benefits lacks scientific basis. The enzymes present in plants were made for plants, not humans, and hold no particular benefit for our digestive process. In addition, after consuming fresh food, stomach acids quickly kill the enzymes, rendering them useless and unable to assist in the digestive process.

There are also people who claim that raw food benefits the pH level of the body. The theory says that diets high in meat, sugar, dairy, and preservatives cause your body to become too acidic and leave your system vulnerable to disease. Headaches, fatigue, depression, muscle stiffness, stomachaches, and irritability can all be symptoms of an acidic imbalance. A diet of raw foods brings the body to a more alkaline state, and some believe that this alkalinity strengthens the immune system and can prevent cancer, fatigue, obesity, and allergies. The mainstream medical community generally rejects the alkaline diet theory as lacking any scientific basis.

One of the major raw food benefits that most people agree upon is the preservation of nutrients. Though most minerals are unaffected by cooking – the iron content in well-done steak is the same as in rare – heat does kill vitamins A, B, E, C, folate, biotin, and more. There are certain cooking methods that can minimize the damage (steam vegetables rather than boiling them, for example). Generally speaking, however, you’ll get a lot more vitamin A out of a raw carrot than a cooked one.

Though different claims about raw food benefits are often contested, the bottom line remains: almost everyone can benefit from eating more fresh fruit and vegetables. Even if we don’t need the enzymes from a raw tomato to digest our food properly, or even if the pH level of our body is hardly influenced by the foods we eat, a fresh apple is always a better snack choice than fried potato chips. A diet of raw foods is by definition free of preservatives, additives, high-fructose corn syrup, and hydrogenated fats – and those raw food benefits ring true no matter who you ask.