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 [log in to unmask]