The following is an article George Meinig, D.D.S., FACD picked off the
web by somebody on the zone list.


There is a common misconception that cooking makes food more
digestible. While this is true in a few isolated incidences, on the
whole it is utterly false. Cooking or heating often makes a bad food
safe to eat, but it never makes it a better food.
To test this quite simply, I suggest after eating corn that you take a
moment to observe the number of undigested kernels of corn in your
stool. Then the next time you eat corn on the cob, without cooking it,
you will be amazed at its tenderness and improved taste. But at the
same time, when you observe your stool, you will be surprised at how
much less undigested corn is present. The reason, of course, is that
cooking made it less digestible - it is more difficult for the
digestive juices to break it down.
Those of you who say that you just can't eat raw vegetables without
getting a stomach ache have this occur not because the food is raw but
because your digestive system is deficient. Half of the public, at the
age of 50, is short of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, and 15 percent
are at the early age of 20. Many also have insufficient pancreatic and
liver digestive juices. Shortage of any one, or combination, give
digestive disturbances such as gas, diarrhea, and constipation and
these, of course, are common to many individuals. The whole subject of
digestion is probably the most overlooked phase of human health care.

Best, Peter
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