"It's been said that half the fuel used in the world goes to the cooking of food. We use more fuel for cooking than we do for driving our cars.

"Every creature has foods for which it is biologically designed. In our case, fruits and tender young vegetables are ergonomically designed. A lion's mouth waters when it sees an antelope. When we see cherries or peaches on a tree, we sense food.

"Cooking is not a requirement for healthy eating. I found such amazing health results as an outcome of [raw food] that there was no turning back. Protein is found in the nucleus of all living cells. We know of no such condition as protein deficiency. Almost all conditions in the Western hemisphere are conditions of excess, not of deficiency."

- DOUGLAS GRAHAM, chiropractor, founder Healthful Living International, 100 per cent raw for 30 years, Key Largo, Florida

"In general, heating of food has been associated with the generation of carcinogens and of these compounds that, once absorbed, may over time generate disease. Of course, I am mostly talking about meat. Vegetables create very little of these."

- JAIME URIBARRI, associate professor, medicine/nephrology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York