1. Researchers primarily from the Institute of Nutritional Science, University of Giessen, Germany, under direction of Professor Ingrid Hoffman, have determined that a long-term raw food diet results in low levels of the antioxidant lycopene:
http://journals.cambridge.org/Long-term strict raw food diet is associated with favourable plasma β-carotene and low plasma lycopene concentrations in Germans
2. Cooking fruits that contain lycopene, like tomatoes, significantly raises the bioavailability of the antioxidant:
Antioxidant Changes and Sensory Properties of Carrot Puree Processed with and without Periderm Tissue
3. Steaming or boiling asparagus, cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, peppers, and spinach, among other vegetables, supplies more antioxidants like carotenoids and ferulic acid to the body than they would raw:
Effects of Different Cooking Methods on Nutritional and Physicochemical Characteristics of Selected Vegetables
