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Pictured Recipe:Green Salad with Edamame & Beets
The raw food diet movement took hold in the mid-1970s with the publication ofSurvival into the 21st Century, a book that purported the diet could resolve physical ailments and extend lifespan. Its unlikely author: Viktoras Kulvinskas, a former computer consultant for MIT. Decades later, the diet still thrives.
High-profile devotees, such as actors Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson and Chicago chef Charlie Trotter, shun animal products and heat-processed grains; they eat nuts, seeds, sprouted grains, fruits and vegetables—ones that haven’t been heated past 118°F.
The theory is that consuming uncooked foods boosts energy, aids in weight loss and prevents disease. Heat-processing destroys digestion-aiding enzymes and creates tissue-damaging toxins—two reasons why raw foods are healthier, say the raw food diet’s advocates.
What the Science Says About the Raw Food Diet
Supporting evidence for the “enzyme hypothesis” and reduced toxin loads are lacking, but limited studies do suggest some health benefits—and risks. A study in theJournal of Nutritionfound that raw-foodists were far less likely than the general population to registerhigh levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol. On the flip side, 38% of the study’s 201 subjects were deficient in vitamin B12, a nutrient that’s also important for heart health.
Another study inArchives of Internal Medicinereported that raw-foods-diet followers had significantly lower body-mass indices (a measure of body fat) than people consuming a typical American diet. That said, they also had lower bone densities, a risk factor for osteoporosis.
What Experts Say About the Raw Food Diet
“There’s no doubt thatplant-based dietshave been linked with a lower risk of obesity and other chronic diseases, but because the raw-foods diet is so restrictive, its followers are at risk for deficiencies of vitamin B12 and omega-3 fatty acids if they don’t take supplements,” says Andrea N. Giancoli, M.P.H., R.D., a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association in Los Angeles. “And the diet isn’t based on science: cooking destroys some nutrients, but it makes others (like the lycopene in tomatoes) more absorbable.”
The Bottom Line
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