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Friday, 19 May 2006 |
 You eat raw eggs, never add protein powder to hot oatmeal or order your steak rear. You simply try to eat protein in its freshest form since cooking it might destroy the valuable aminos. Is it worth it? What if you are missing on some important nourishing qualities that cooking may provide? Cooking is desirable to kill dangerous pathogens like E. coli and salmonella, and actually improves protein bioavailability. Cooking especially improves protein absorption in soy, as it inactivates a chemical known to block a key protein digestive enzyme. For this reason, vegetarian bodybuilders should eat their tofu cooked and avoid raw soy products. The trick is not to overdo it. Excessive heat reduces protein bioavailability by destroying some amino acids.
Cystine is particularly vulnerable to heat destruction; overcooking also causes lysine and glutamine residues in protein to bond together, hampering digestibility. Furthermore, heating may cause sugar molecules to cross-link with proteins. Since sugar-bonded lysine can't be absorbed, protein digestibility is reduced by this sometimes-flavorful component of food browning. Excessive heat due to roasting can also change L-amino acids into D-amino acids not usable by the body's anabolic machinery. |
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Nutrition 
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