Hi David,
By your own argument, raw foods should extend life if they reduce 
calorie intake.
However, I suspect that the critical factor is reductions in AGEs and 
free radicals.
If so, then a high fat ketogenic diet should similarly extend life.

As for how long humans have been cooking food, there is some debate on 
that issue,
but the greater question is how long have we been cooking most of our 
food? Just as
I doubt that the occasional ingestion of refined carbs is that harmful, 
I doubt that the
occasional cooked meal is problematic.

I don't eat a raw food diet, but I am increasingly convinced that cooked 
foods are
less healthful than raw foods. I am fully convinced that any 
one-size-fits-all approach
to human eating is going to fail with some people. That is a little like 
prescribing the
same dosage of medication for a 100 pound woman and a 300 pound male 
athlete.
It just doesn't make any sense but it does seem to be our current paradigm.

best wishes,
Ron


> Some raw food people may look younger; however, are they actually living
> longer?
> What about the people who fail to thrive on a all raw type diet? Lots of
> people have problems with Aajonus Vonderplanit type diets.  At some point
> his claims of detoxing just fall apart.
>
> Of course cooked food lends itself to weight gain; cooked food is more
> digestible and bio-absorbable. Lower calorie intake (periodic or regular)
> has been linked to slower aging. Maybe the raw fodders are just getting
> fewer calories because less is being digested.
>
> Humans have been cooking food long before we were human.
> -David
>