To cook or not to cook – a thought to chew on

Cooked food and immune irregularities

In 1930, Dr. Paul Kouchakoff, M.D. studied the effects of food on the blood. His lab results revealed that when people ate cooked food their white blood cells would elevate. This phenomenon was termed digestive leukocytosis. The postulation was that the body was having some sort of stress response.
In researching this phenomenon they made an astounding discovery. Eating live or uncooked foods would reduce the elevated white blood cells from cooked foods. If foods were uncooked or cooked under a certain temperature the elevation would not occur. This prompted numerous studies in Dr. Kouchakoff’s Lab, Institute of Clinical Chemistry of Lausanne, Switzerland.
In their research they discovered that processed foods as well as cooked foods would initiate this reaction of elevated white blood cells. Typically white blood cells are elevated in response to an invading pathogen or injury. So the interpretation was that cooked foods and processed foods caused some sort of irritation to the body.
Some of the worst offenders in their research were homogenized or pasteurized foods and preserved foods. Examples of these were milk, white flour, margarine, sugar, chocolate, and candy.
There are two ways to best combat digestive leukocytosis. The first, and most effective, is to eat live food with meals. There is debate as to how much live food needs to be eaten to prevent this reaction. Some say the evidence suggested as low as 10% and others say 50% of the meal needs to be live and uncooked. A secondary way to combat the elevation of white blood cells is to thoroughly chew one’s food. Either way the conclusion is that we must eat live foods with every meal.
This research leads the to the conclusion that our habits of food preparation may be a large part of our health problems. If one is suffering from any immune malfunction (weak immune system or autoimmune disease) then it behooves that person to eat 50% live foods in their meals as well as take their time to chew their food.
Here is a translation of the original article from Paul Kouchakoff (Suisse), M.D.
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