> Re enzymes/bacteria  comments:- You're missing the point. Just eating a
> SAD diet(or any diet whether it includes grains or dairy or whatever)
> cannot , in and of itself, satisfactorily explain why people so often need
> to take bacteria supplements or enzyme supplements.

No, I'm not missing the point.  I get the point, but I'm skeptical of its
truth.  The effects of SAD are numerous, and I don't think they've all
been fully documented.


> The fact that so many
> of these cooked-dieters benefit from those bacteria or enzyme supplements
> and need them indicates very strongly that their bodies can no longer
> supply them properly with sufficient bacteria or enzymes.

No, it doesn't "indicate very strongly" anything of the kind.  It makes it
a legitimate hypothesis for testing however.  What percentage of elderly
people require digestive enzyme supplementation?  Do you have any data on
that?  I've seen more about HCl supplementation, but that's beside the
point.  If the need for enzyme supplementation in the elderly is an
important piece of evidence for the importance of enzymes in raw foods,
then by all means lets get at the evidence.

> Now, raw foods
> do contain enzymes

Except for meats.  Are we in agreement that there are no digestive enzymes
in meats?

>  However, all those enzyme-pill/bacteria-pill-popping  people you
> mention(whether they are grain-eaters/SAD-dieters/atkins-diet-eaters
> etc.) all have 1 thing in common with each other - they all eat diets
> very high in bacteria-deficient/enzyme-deficient cooked/processed foods,
> which makes it far more likely that it is the cooked aspect of those
> diets which is the problem, not grains or dairy or whatever.

Do you have data comparing the Atkins dieters, and so on, with respect to
their need for digestive enzymes in old age?  If not, you have no business
making this claim, because you're in no position to know any such thing. 
The fact is that any large-scale study will include large numbers of SAD
dieters, who have much more in common than not eating raw.  Your claim,
then, that they have exactly one thing in common is false.

Todd Moody