Myth of Cooking vs Raw? – Case of Vitamin C

I had an discussion with my wife about cooking vs raw.  Does cooking really destroy vitamins?  Let’s take a look.

According to a study with Vitamin C in broccoli, cooking does NOT destroy it.  The experiment looked at three things:

1. Raw broccoli
2. Broccoli cooked between 30-60C
3. Broccoli cooked between 70-100C

Now, #2 (broccoli b/w 30-60C) activated vitamin C oxidation causing enzyme, and destroyed vitamin C.

But, #3 (broccoli b/w 70-100C) destroyed that enzyme AND vitamin C was not affected.

So, it turned out that heat would not destroy Vitamin C, if it is high enough to destroy the enzymes.

Reference: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20546391 (NB: Vitamin C = ascorbic acid)