The raw food movement claims that cooking destroys nutrients and enzymes, making food less healthy. But science tells a more nuanced story.
Some nutrients are indeed damaged by heat. Others become significantly more available for your body to absorb after cooking.1 The truth is that both raw and cooked foods have their place in a healthy diet.
This article breaks down what the research actually shows about raw versus cooked foods — and which approach wins for specific nutrients.
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Available on the App StoreWhat is a raw-food diet?
A raw-food diet focuses on uncooked, unprocessed foods — typically at least 70% of calories from raw sources. Common components include raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouted grains, and fermented foods.
Most raw foodists follow a vegan or vegetarian pattern, though some include raw dairy, fish, or meat.
The philosophy is that cooking destroys enzymes and nutrients, making food less nutritious or even “toxic.” But this claim oversimplifies a complex topic.
The reality: A strict raw-food diet is extremely difficult to maintain long-term. Research on long-term raw food adherents shows some interesting trade-offs — they achieve great beta-carotene status but often have suboptimal lycopene levels because raw tomatoes don’t deliver lycopene efficiently.2
There’s also a food safety concern: cooking eliminates harmful bacteria in meat, eggs, and fish. A raw animal-product diet carries significant foodborne illness risk.
The enzyme argument doesn’t hold up
Raw food advocates claim that cooking destroys food enzymes, forcing your body to work harder and depleting its enzyme reserves. It sounds logical, but the science doesn’t support it.
Here’s why:
- Your body makes its own digestive enzymes — and does so efficiently regardless of what you eat
- Most food enzymes exist for the plant’s benefit, not yours
- No studies show “enzyme deficiency” from eating cooked foods
Your stomach acid and digestive enzymes break down proteins (including enzymes) from food into amino acids anyway. Whether an enzyme arrives intact or denatured, it’s getting digested.
This doesn’t mean raw foods aren’t valuable — they absolutely are. But the enzyme argument specifically isn’t a good reason to avoid cooking.
Some vitamins are lost in cooking
This is where raw foods legitimately win. Water-soluble vitamins — particularly vitamin C and B vitamins — are heat-sensitive and can leach into cooking water.
Boiling vegetables can reduce vitamin C content by 50–60%. That’s significant if you’re relying on certain vegetables for vitamin C intake.
The cooking method matters:
- Boiling — worst for nutrient retention (vitamins leach into water)
- Steaming — better; minimal water contact
- Microwaving — surprisingly good; short cooking time preserves nutrients
- Stir-frying — good; quick, high heat
Fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) are more stable and less affected by cooking. And cooking time matters: the longer food is heated, the more nutrients are lost.
Suggested read: 20 Foods That Are High in Vitamin C for Health
Cooked food may be easier to chew and digest
Chewing is an essential first step in the digestive process. Chewing breaks down large pieces of food into tiny particles that can be digested.
Improperly chewed food is much more difficult for the body to digest and can lead to gas and bloating. Additionally, it requires significantly more energy and effort to chew raw foods than cooked ones.
Cooking food breaks down some of its fibers and plant cell walls, making it easier for the body to digest and absorb the nutrients.
Cooking also generally improves the taste and aroma of food, which makes it much more enjoyable to eat.
Although the number of raw foodists who consume raw meat is small, it is easier to chew and digest when cooked.
Properly cooking grains and legumes improves their digestibility and reduces the number of anti-nutrients they contain. Anti-nutrients inhibit the body’s ability to absorb nutrients in plant foods.
The digestibility of food is essential because your body can only receive food’s health benefits if it can absorb the nutrients.
Some cooked foods may give the body more nutrients than their raw counterparts because they are easier to chew and digest.
Summary: Cooked foods are easier to chew and digest than raw foods. Proper digestion is necessary to absorb a food’s nutrients.
Cooking dramatically increases some antioxidants
Here’s where it gets interesting. While cooking destroys some nutrients, it significantly increases the bioavailability of others.
Beta-carotene: Research shows that plasma beta-carotene levels are approximately three times higher after consuming cooked carrots and spinach compared to raw.3 Cooking breaks down plant cell walls, releasing carotenoids for easier absorption.
Lycopene: This is the star example. Cooking tomatoes reduces vitamin C by about 29%, but more than doubles lycopene availability and increases total antioxidant capacity by over 60%.4 Adding oil improves absorption further.
A study on vegetable preparation found that all cooking methods (boiling, grilling, microwaving, steaming) enhanced beta-carotene transfer to absorbable form compared to raw vegetables.1
This explains why long-term raw food dieters often have excellent beta-carotene status but suboptimal lycopene levels — they’re missing out on the cooking effect.2
Cooking kills off harmful bacteria and microorganisms
It’s better to eat certain foods cooked, as raw versions may contain harmful bacteria. Cooking food effectively kills bacteria that may cause foodborne illness.
However, fruits and vegetables are generally safe to consume raw, as long as they have not been contaminated.
Spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, and raw sprouts are some fruits and vegetables most frequently contaminated by bacteria.
Raw meat, fish, eggs, and dairy often contain bacteria that can make you sick.
E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria, and Campylobacter are some of the most common bacteria that may be found in raw foods.
Most bacteria cannot survive at temperatures over 140°F (60°C). This means that cooking effectively kills bacteria and reduces the risk of foodborne illness.
Commercially produced milk is pasteurized, which means it has been exposed to heat to kill any harmful bacteria it may contain.
Consuming raw or undercooked meat, eggs, or dairy is not recommended. If you eat these foods raw, make sure your food is fresh and purchase it from a trusted source.
Summary: Cooking food effectively kills bacteria that may cause food-borne illnesses. This applies especially to meat, eggs, and dairy.
It depends on the food
Neither a wholly raw nor thoroughly cooked diet can be justified by science.
That’s because raw and cooked fruits and vegetables have various health benefits, including a lower risk of chronic disease.
The truth is that whether food should be consumed raw or cooked may depend on the food.
Here are a few examples of foods that are either healthier raw or healthier cooked:
Foods that are healthier raw
- Broccoli: Raw broccoli contains three times the amount of sulforaphane, a cancer-fighting plant compound, then cooked broccoli.
- Cabbage: Cooking cabbage destroys the enzyme myrosinase, which plays a role in cancer prevention. If you choose to cook cabbage, do so for short periods.
- Onions: Raw onion is an anti-platelet agent contributing to heart disease prevention. Cooking onions reduces this beneficial effect.
- Garlic: Sulfur compounds in raw garlic have anti-cancer properties. Cooking garlic destroys these sulfur compounds.
Foods that are healthier cooked
- Asparagus: Cooking asparagus breaks down its fibrous cell walls, making folate and vitamins A, C, and E more available to be absorbed.
- Mushrooms: Cooking mushrooms helps degrade agaritine, a potential carcinogen found in mushrooms. Cooking also helps release ergothioneine, a powerful mushroom antioxidant.
- Spinach: Nutrients like iron, magnesium, calcium, and zinc are more available for absorption when spinach is cooked.
- Tomatoes: Cooking greatly increases the antioxidant lycopene in tomatoes.
- Carrots: Cooked carrots contain more beta-carotene than raw carrots.
- Potatoes: The starch in potatoes is nearly indigestible until the potato is cooked.
- Legumes: Raw or undercooked legumes contain dangerous toxins called lectins. Lectins are eliminated with proper soaking and cooking.
- Meat, fish, and poultry: Raw meat, fish, and poultry may contain bacteria that can cause food-borne illnesses. Cooking these foods kills harmful bacteria.
Summary: Some foods are better to eat raw, and some are healthier when cooked. Eat a combination of cooked and raw foods for maximum health benefits.
The bottom line
The raw versus cooked debate has a clear winner: both.
Suggested read: Sulforaphane: Benefits, Side Effects, and Food Sources
Different foods and nutrients respond differently to cooking. The optimal approach is a mixed diet that includes:
- Raw foods for heat-sensitive vitamins (C, B vitamins), certain enzymes (like myrosinase in broccoli), and fresh produce variety
- Cooked foods for better absorption of lycopene, beta-carotene, and minerals like iron, plus food safety for animal products and legumes
A completely raw diet isn’t necessary for good health — and may actually lead to some nutrient deficiencies while missing out on the bioavailability benefits of cooking.
The practical takeaway: eat a variety of vegetables both raw and cooked, use gentler cooking methods when possible, and don’t overcook your food.
Ryan L, O’Connell O, O’Sullivan L, Aherne SA, O’Brien NM. Micellarisation of carotenoids from raw and cooked vegetables. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition. 2008;63(3):127-133. PubMed ↩︎ ↩︎
Garcia AL, Koebnick C, Dagnelie PC, et al. Long-term strict raw food diet is associated with favourable plasma beta-carotene and low plasma lycopene concentrations in Germans. British Journal of Nutrition. 2008;99(6):1293-1300. PubMed ↩︎ ↩︎
Rock CL, Lovalvo JL, Emenhiser C, et al. Bioavailability of beta-carotene is lower in raw than in processed carrots and spinach in women. The Journal of Nutrition. 1998;128(5):913-916. PubMed ↩︎
Perdomo F, Cabrera Fránquiz F, Cabrera J, Serra-Majem L. Influence of cooking procedure on the bioavailability of lycopene in tomatoes. Nutrición Hospitalaria. 2012;27(5):1542-1546. PubMed ↩︎
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