Stefan:
> You will find it in most books about chemistry and medicine. I
> thought it to be common knowledge (excuse me). An indicator of the
> correctness of this statement might be, that fever over 104F is
> deadly: your body denaturates.

My understanding is that human enzymes work best at the body's temperature
(98.6 F). But some animals have a different body temperature, something like
103F for hens and 107F for goats (will have to check: I read that 5 or 6 years
ago!). And the body temperature of reptiles can vary between extremes. In
addition, the fact that a temperature is deadly doesn't mean that the enzymes
are killed. If your inner temperature was kept at 80F, you wouldn't survive for
a very long time, and yet your enzymes aren't destroyed.

I would thus appreciate references (or, when I find the time, I will try to go
to a specialized library).

> So I expected the "critical temperature" of avocados to be near 190F and
> n o t    near to 104F.

I think the point of the article is that leukocytosis appears with foods heated
at about 190F [but the existence of that phenomenon being controversial...]. Of
course, other forms of stress for the body can appear ar lower temperatures.

Best wishes,

Jean-Louis
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