Wes Peterson responded to Jean-Louis' request for confirmation about possible
nutrient loss during cooking:

> > egg whites. Given the fact that I can't trust everything you say
> > (for instance, you gave percentages of vitamin losses which were
> > obviously wrong), it seemed natural to ask for a confirmation?
>
> Well, these vitamin loss numbers variate. It all depends on what your
> source of reference is. How is it that you're so sure that your source
> is right? And, vitamin losses depend on method of cooking, time, and
> temperature. The ridiculous thing of this is that cooking destroys
> vitamins. Why argue about the % destroyed?

I suspect you're right here, Wes.  Actually, the charts showing *initial*
nutrients are simply averages from many labs, so it only makes sense that
nutrient degradation tables would also be averages of far-apart individual
test results.  If a single lab can test, say, the iron content of spinach at
1ppm today and 1900+ppm tomorrow, I wouldn't get too excited over a few
percentage points variation in vitamin destruction.

You're a fiesty fellow for being such a young'un.  I'm enjoying all your vim
& vigor and hope to be around to read your 10, 20, and 30 year "all-raw"
reports.  Perhaps you'll prove to be an exception to Tom Billings' theory
that eating all-raw for extended periods is detrimental to one's health.

Do you promise to be trustworthy?

My best,
Rex Harrill