I was a raw foodist in highschool for a year. When I got to college I
asked my professor, a tenured doctor in zoologywhat he thought about the
idea that raw foods are good because they have vitalizing enzymess. I
don't know what the credentials are of the author below, but what he has
to say is similar to what my professor had to say on the topic:


From
http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/enzymes.html


Enzymes: Are they the key to raw foods?

I've received the following question from a reader : "You say that raw
foods are good for us but not because of the enzymes.. This is really
something ... then why all this raw food movement is expanding
throughout the western world? Many well known hygienists and raw
foodists claim that enzymes are the exact reason of why raw food is
superior to the cooked one. Can you please clarify this one? Do we
really have any scientific information on whether the enzymes that the
foods carry don't or do take a part in digestion?”

My Answer: That’s an interesting question. In most raw-food books you’ll
read that food enzymes are “the lifeforce” of foods and that they’re the
reason why we should eat a raw diet. That’s what I used to think when I
gullibly believed everything that the raw-food gurus said. Now my
understanding is that food enzymes are not important at all in the
digestive process, and most of them are destroyed in the process of
digestion anyway. If they are not destroyed, it is unlikely that they
have any role to play in digestion.

You ask if I’ve got any scientific research to back it up. You should
ask the question differently. Do raw-foodists have any scientific
research to back up their enzyme theories? Very scant. Open up any
physiology book and you’ll realize that all of those theories are pure
conjectures. Everything that I just said about enzymes are recognized
facts of physiology.

Here’s what one of my correspondents sent me, and this summarizes this
issue a lot:

“It was SO good to read your snippet about enzymes as you have put out
publicly exactly the conclusions I had come to! All this hype about
enzymes being good for your health flies in the face of proven science
on many counts:

1) Enzymes are biological catalysts and the definition of a catalyst is
that it is something that alters/speeds up a reaction without being used
up in the process. So, by definition, we cannot 'run out of enzymes'.
Even if we could:

2) Enzymes are proteins and are made up of the same amino acids as other
proteins needed in the body. Thus, if more are needed, more can easily
be made from the same materials as other body parts! Our raw plant foods
actually go to make up enzymes!

3) Enzymes are specific - they catalyze one reaction and one reaction
only. That means that plant enzymes are there to deal with reactions
connected with the plant's life and not to help humans digest food. Look
at the speed at which fruit ripens then decays. It takes days, if not
weeks! But human digestion of fruit takes only hours. How can the same
enzyme suddenly do that? Simply, it can't. Also, enzymes being specific,
human metabolic enzymes cannot logically be used as digestive enzymes.
They are there only to catalyze the metabolic reaction.

In my opinion, the food enzyme theory and its wide following is one of
the major things against more mainstream acceptance of raw foodism as a
whole. It's blatantly wrong and gives those who insist on it a bad name.
If the raw and natural food movement wishes to be gain wider
credibility, it has to be more credible.” Elizabeth, UK

Let’s take the example of the banana. An unripe banana is loaded with
various enzymes that are needed BY THE BANANA to transform its own
starch into simple sugars. As the banana ripen, it becomes sweeter as
complex substances (starch) are transformed into simpler ones (sugar).
In the end, the enzymes are themselves disintegrated in the process. So
when you eat the ripe bananas, there are few enzymes in it. But then, it
is so easy to digest that the body will use fewer enzymes to digest it
than if you ate a slice of bread, which contains mostly complex carbs.
So in the end, you indeed “save up” your enzymes by eating the raw
banana, but this has nothing to do with the enzymes in the bananas,
which are not needed anyway.

Raw-foodists often say that avocados are easy to digest because they
contain a lot of fat-digesting enzymes (called lipase). It this were
true, the avocado would digest itself. It would not sit on the counter
and ripen, but it would quickly digest itself down! In reality, when you
eat a ripe avocado, your body has to use its own enzymes to digest it.

Nuts and seeds are easier to digest when they are soaked not because it
supposedly “activates the enzymes” in the nuts. In fact, they are easier
to digest simply because they are hydrated. A dried fruit is also easier
to digest when it is soaked.

But enzymes supplements work, you’ll say. Sure they work. The enzymes
used are specific digestive enzymes. However, when you use them, you
cripple a natural function. If you’re experiencing digestive problems
and you find relief in using supplemental enzymes, you’re simply not
addressing the cause of your problem. Over time, your digestion will
become less and less efficient because you are using a natural “aid”
like a crutch – you’ll end up with a weaker digestion.
--

Steve

Be A Healthy Vegan Or Vegetarian
http://www.geocities.com/beforewisdo...ealthyVeg.html

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