Raw food: a great salad, a terrible religion.
Eating more raw vegetables and fruit is a good idea. Eating almost nothing else is where it goes wrong. The studies on long-term raw foodists show some nice cholesterol numbers, and a list of problems that should make anyone think twice.
The short version
- What it is
- Mostly or only uncooked food, usually plant-based: fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouts. Often 70–100% raw.
- Good for
- Weight loss, lower LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, and eating a lot of fruit and vegetables.
- Bad at
- B12, bones, HDL cholesterol, keeping enough weight on, and periods.
- Evidence
- Weak. Small observational studies, no long-term trials.
- Our take
- Add a raw salad to every day. Keep cooking the rest.
What the raw food diet actually is
Raw foodists eat food that hasn't been heated above a certain temperature, usually around 40–48 °C, the idea being that cooking "kills" the food. Most raw food diets are vegan: fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouted grains and legumes, seaweed, cold-pressed oils. Some versions include raw eggs, raw fish, raw meat or unpasteurised milk, which is a different (and riskier) story.
People rarely eat 100% raw. In the biggest study of raw foodists, participants ate anywhere from 70% to 100% raw food, for an average of almost four years.1 Kitchen kit replaces the stove: blenders, dehydrators, spiralizers, sprouting jars.
The appeal is easy to see. It looks fresh, clean and colourful, and it removes almost all processed food in one go. The problem is what else it removes.
How it works in your body
Raw plant food is bulky, watery and high in fibre. You chew a lot, fill up fast and take in few calories. That's why people lose weight on it, often a lot of weight.
Cooking isn't the villain it's made out to be. It softens fibre, makes starchy foods like potatoes, grains and beans edible at all, and lets you eat enough calories and protein from plants without spending your whole day chewing. Take it away and many people simply don't manage to eat enough.
Raw food works for weight loss mainly because it's hard to eat enough of it. That's a feature for a few weeks and a problem for a few years.
What you eat, what you don't
Eat
- Fresh vegetables and leafy greens
- Fruit and berries
- Nuts and seeds, nut butters
- Sprouted seeds, grains and legumes
- Avocado, olives, cold-pressed oils
- Seaweed, fermented vegetables like sauerkraut and kimchi
- Smoothies, juices, dehydrated crackers
Forget it
- Anything cooked, baked, roasted or boiled
- Bread, pasta, cooked grains, cooked beans
- Meat, fish and eggs (in raw vegan versions)
- Pasteurised dairy
- Processed and packaged food, sugar
- Coffee and tea, in strict versions
Alcohol on the raw food diet
OK, now and then
- A glass of dry organic wine (many raw foodists allow it)
- Clear spirits with soda water and fresh lime
- Kombucha with no added sugar, as an alternative
Not part of the deal
- Beer brewed from cooked grain, for strict followers
- Cocktails with juice, syrups or cola
- Drinking on a light, low-calorie raw day: it hits harder
50 Club: one glass of dry wine with a proper meal.
Raw food doesn't make alcohol any healthier. The World Health Organization says no safe level of alcohol has been shown.5 All the details are in our alcohol guide.
What it's good for, with proof
Weight loss, lots of it
In a German survey of 513 long-term raw foodists, people had lost on average about 10 kg (men) and 12 kg (women) since starting.1 If your goal is weight loss, that sounds great. Keep reading, though: the same study found a lot of people had lost too much.
Lower LDL cholesterol and triglycerides
In 201 people eating 70–100% raw plant food, triglycerides were low across the board and LDL cholesterol was mostly favourable.2 That's what you'd expect from a diet of fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds with almost no saturated fat.
A mountain of fruit and vegetables
Raw foodists in that study ate roughly 1.5 to 1.8 kg of raw plant food a day.2 A big analysis of 95 studies found the lowest risks of heart disease, stroke and early death at around 800 g of fruit and vegetables a day.6 You don't need to go raw to get there. A whole-food plant-based or vegan diet with cooked food can reach it too.
The uncomfortable truth
"The more raw, the healthier." The studies point the other way. The stricter the raw diet and the longer people stuck to it, the lower their body weight: 15% of men and 25% of women were underweight. About 30% of women under 45 had irregular or completely stopped periods, more often in those eating over 90% raw.1 The researchers concluded that a very strict raw food diet can't be recommended long term.
"Raw food is perfect nutrition, no supplements needed." In the 201 raw foodists, 38% were vitamin B12 deficient, and their homocysteine, a blood marker linked to heart disease, was raised as a result. Almost half had low HDL ("good") cholesterol.2 Nice LDL, not-so-nice everything else.
The risks
- Vitamin B12 deficiency. Over a third of raw foodists in one study.2 It damages nerves and blood slowly, and can be permanent. Fully plant-based eaters need a reliable B12 source.
- Weak bones. In a small US study, 18 long-term raw vegetarians had lower bone mass at the spine and hip than people eating a typical diet, even though their vitamin D levels were better.3 Low body weight is a likely part of it.
- Lost periods and fertility. About 30% of younger women in the German survey had partial or complete loss of periods.1 That's a sign the body is running on too little.
- Underweight. A quarter of the women and 15% of the men were below a healthy weight.1
- Food safety. Raw meat, raw fish, raw eggs, unpasteurised milk and raw sprouts all carry a higher risk of food poisoning. For anyone pregnant, very young, old or with a weak immune system, that matters a lot.
Allergies: watch the staples
| Raw food staple | Allergen (EU list of 14)4 | Swap |
|---|---|---|
| Almonds, cashews, walnuts, nut "cheeses" and milks | Tree nuts | Sunflower and pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds |
| Tahini, sesame crackers | Sesame | Sunflower seed butter, flax crackers |
| Sprouted wheat, raw "bread", wheatgrass products | Cereals containing gluten | Sprouted buckwheat, flax and chia crackers |
| Raw peanut butter | Peanuts | Seed butters |
| Sprouted soy, edamame, nama shoyu | Soy | Coconut aminos, sprouted lentils |
| Kimchi, dressings with mustard, celery juice | Mustard, celery, crustaceans (fish sauce or shrimp in kimchi) | Check labels; sauerkraut made with cabbage and salt only |
| Dried fruit | Sulphur dioxide and sulphites | Unsulphured dried fruit, fresh fruit |
Don't do raw food if you…
- are pregnant, breastfeeding or trying to get pregnant
- are feeding a child or teenager
- are underweight, or have ever had an eating disorder
- have osteoporosis or low bone density
- have a weak immune system, or are on chemotherapy or immune-suppressing drugs (food safety)
- have kidney disease (potassium from huge amounts of fruit and vegetables)
- are over 70 and losing weight without trying
Healthen me asks about all of these and gives you a different plan if any apply.
How we use raw food in your plan
We don't. Raw food is an information article for us, not part of the engine, because the strict versions carry real risks and there's no evidence that raw beats cooked.
What we do take: a big portion of raw vegetables every day, as a salad or a side, ideally eaten first in your meal. The rest of your plate can be cooked, roasted, steamed or stewed. If you're drawn to the idea of eating the most nutrients per calorie, read our Nutritarian article, which keeps the plants and the stove.
This article is general information, not medical advice. If you have a medical condition or take medication, talk to your doctor before changing how you eat.
Sources
- Koebnick C et al. Consequences of a long-term raw food diet on body weight and menstruation: results of a questionnaire survey. Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism 1999;43(2):69–79. doi.org/10.1159/000012770
- Koebnick C et al. Long-term consumption of a raw food diet is associated with favorable serum LDL cholesterol and triglycerides but also with elevated plasma homocysteine and low serum HDL cholesterol in humans. Journal of Nutrition 2005;135(10):2372–2378. doi.org/10.1093/jn/135.10.2372
- Fontana L et al. Low bone mass in subjects on a long-term raw vegetarian diet. Archives of Internal Medicine 2005;165(6):684. doi.org/10.1001/archinte.165.6.684
- Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on food information to consumers, Annex II (the 14 allergens). eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2011/1169/oj
- WHO Regional Office for Europe. No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health. News release, 4 January 2023. who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health
- Aune D et al. Fruit and vegetable intake and the risk of cardiovascular disease, total cancer and all-cause mortality: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies. International Journal of Epidemiology 2017;46(3):1029–1056. doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyw319