Cooking food increases bio-availability of nutrients while decreasing the amount of nutrients present in food. Cooking food is believed to be one of the import

Cooking food increases bio-availability of nutrients while decreasing the amount of nutrients present in food. Cooking food is believed to be one of the important factors that led to increased brain size in sapiens as it increased bio-availability of nutrients. Whether that increase is still relevant given the total availability food in modern society is debatable. These are general statements, in specific foods it may be preferable not to cook them. Certain foods such as chicken & pork should probably always be cooked. The basic premise is this, if you are going to eat 1 carrot you will get more nutrients from it being cooked. The real question is whether it is better to eat 1 cooked carrot or two uncooked carrots. Our ancestors didn't have the luxury of having two carrots available so cooking was much preferable.