The trouble with internet information- it is plainly wrong
  

This article was retrieved from http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/enzymes.htm on Thursday 31st of December 2009 1.00 pm. It discusses the problems of cooking food and the enzymes that are contained in food.

You may wish to read a little about the digestive system and enzymes before you read this article.

  

The enzymes in raw foods are destroyed by heat

Most raw food, like our bodies, is very perishable. When raw foods are exposed to temperatures above 118 degrees, they start to rapidly break down, just as our bodies would if we had a fever that high. One of the constituents of foods which can break down are enzymes. Enzymes help us digest our food. Enzymes are proteins though, and they have a very specific 3-dimensional structure in space. Once they are heated much above 118 degrees, this structure can change.

Once enzymes are exposed to heat, they are no longer able to provide the function for which they were designed. Cooked foods contribute to chronic illness, because their enzyme content is damaged and thus requires us to make our own enzymes to process the food. The digestion of cooked food uses valuable metabolic enzymes in order to help digest your food. Digestion of cooked food demands much more energy than the digestion of raw food. In general, raw food is so much more easily digested that it passes through the digestive tract in 1/2 to 1/3 of the time it takes for cooked food.

Eating enzyme-dead foods places a burden on your pancreas and other organs and overworks them, which eventually exhausts these organs. Many people gradually impair their pancreas and progressively lose the ability to digest their food after a lifetime of ingesting processed foods.

The effect of raw food versus cooked food on the immune system

In 1930, under the direction of Dr. Paul Kouchakoff, research was conducted at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry in Lausanne, Switzerland. The effect of food (cooked and processed versus raw and natural) on the immune system was tested and documented.

Dr. Kouchakoff's discovery concerned the leukocytes, the white blood cells.

It was found that after a person eats cooked food, his/her blood responds immediately by increasing the number of white blood cells. This is a well-known phenomena called 'digestive leukocytosis', in which there is a rise in the number of leukocytes - white blood cells - after eating.

Since digestive leukocytosis was always observed after a meal, it was considered to be a normal physiological response to eating. No one knew why the number of white cells rises after eating, since this appeared to be a stress response, as if the body was somehow reacting to something harmful such as infection, exposure to toxic chemicals or trauma.

Back in 1930, the Swiss researchers at the institute of Chemical Chemistry made a remarkable discovery. They found that eating raw, unaltered food did not cause a reaction in the blood. In addition, they found that if a food had been heated beyond a certain temperature (unique to each food), or if the food was processed (refined, chemicals added, etc.), this always caused a rise in the number of white cells in the blood.

The researchers renamed this reaction 'pathological leukocytosis', since the body was reacting to highly altered food. They tested many different types of foods and found that if the foods were not refined or overheated, they caused no reaction. The body saw them as 'friendly foods'. However, these same foods, if heated at too high a temperature, caused a negative reaction in the blood, a reaction found only when the body is invaded by a dangerous pathogen or trauma.

The worst offenders of all, whether heated or not, were processed foods which had been refined (such as white flour and white rice), or pasteurized (a process in which milk is flash-heated to high temperatures to kill bacteria), or homogenized (also seen in milk where the fat in milk is subjected to artificial suspension), or preserved (chemicals are added to food to delay spoilage or to enhance texture or taste).

In other words, foods which were changed from their original God-given state.

 

Raw foods and digestive enzymes

Let's get back to enzymes. Raw foods are rich in enzymes. Enzymes are needed for the digestive system to work. They are necessary to break down food particles so they can be utilized for energy. The human body makes approximately 22 different digestive enzymes which are capable of digesting carbohydrates, protein and fats. Raw vegetables and raw fruit are rich sources of enzymes.

While all raw foods contain enzymes, the most powerful enzyme-rich food is sprouted seeds, grains, and legumes. Sprouting increases the enzyme content in these foods enormously.

Lack of digestive enzymes can be a factor in food allergies. Symptoms of digestive enzymes depletion are bloating, belching, gas, bowel disorders, abdominal cramping, heartburn and food allergies.

All of us loose our ability to produce concentrated digestive enzymes as we grow older. In cases where age is a factor, or where lack of digestive enzymes causes food allergies, supplementation may be helpful. You may also want to explore food combining.

  

1) Lets start with some True or False questions

a) Can the 3D shape of an enzyme break down at high temperatures?

 
b) Is the 3D shape of the enzyme critical to its work in the body or plant?  
c) Is food broken down at high temperatures?  
d) Does the cooking of food help break it down and therefore make it easily digested by humans?  
e) Is raw food easier to digest than cooked food?  
f) Are enzymes used up in the process of digestion?  
   

2) Read the quote below which was taken from the body of text above.
Eating enzyme-dead foods places a burden on your pancreas and other organs and overworks them, which eventually exhausts these organs. Many people gradually impair their pancreas and progressively lose the ability to digest their food after a lifetime of ingesting processed foods.

Discuss the validity of this comment. Give reasons for the absurdity of this quote.

  
Can you find mention in the scientific literature of the work of Dr. Paul Kouchakoff? Is this a valid research paper they refer to?  
What is 'digestive leukocytosis'? Is it an observable phenomanon or just stupidity gone mad? See howm any references you can find on the internet from reputable scientific journals such NewScientis or Scientific American and from other sources.  

What are the factual and fictitious parts of the comment below? Explain

Enzymes are needed for the digestive system to work. They are necessary to break down food particles so they can be utilized for energy. The human body makes approximately 22 different digestive enzymes which are capable of digesting carbohydrates, protein and fats. Raw vegetables and raw fruit are rich sources of enzymes.

  
Raw vegetables and fruit contain enzymes. However, this article implies that the enzymes found in raw food are necessary for digestion. Rubbish! Explain why.  
How does our digestive system treat the enzymes (proteins) found in food or the enzymes found in enzyme powders sold in tablet form?  
Do we believe this article as to the way the body and in particular white blood cell count, reacts to processed food? What do we need as further evidence? A scientific article perhaps? One that is peer reviewed? Why is a peer reviewed article preferred?  
 
Use this article as an example and discuss the credibility of research and resources on the internet. What measures should you take to be sure that the material comes from a reputable source?  
Enzymes are organic catalysts. Catalysts act to accelerate the rate of a chemical process and are very specific to that chemical process. What statement in the original article above shows that the writer has no idea of how catalysts work?