"Dr Kalla is .... a stakeholder in Australia’s agricultural biotechnology future"

which suggests a vested interest in encouraging us to modify our food away from its natural state.

Unfortunately Mr Kalla, cooking and processing of food does NOT make it more nutritious. In general cooked and processed food is always less nutritious than uncooked and especially unprocessed food. However, it can and often does make the food more palatable. Palatability and nutrition however are not the same thing, and to suggest that we should continue on the path of more and more processing of food is lunacy.

Actually AMSADL, cooking food DOES make it easier to process by the digestive system. Processed food or GM food is more problematic!

Cooking food breaks down the long protein chains into smaller, more digestible protein/amino acids, which are more easily absorbed, so the body does not need to invest as much energy into creating enzymes to break the food down. This is particularly true for meats, and was vital for the survival of Homo Neadathalus and Homo Sapien during recent Ice Ages. A secondary advantage is that it sterilised food from harmful bacteria and other organisms.

Evolution through Darwinian natural selection may take only a few generations. There is no doubt that inventions like electricity and all the neat gadgets that have followed has changed our society, and therefore our perceptions. Our concept of beauty has changed in the last 50 years or so, which will have an impact on our reproductive patterns - hence natural selection.

Domestication of animals and plants is only very recent, perhaps dating back 6000 years, and has allowed for humans to specialise in things other than hunter/gatherer activities. Most importantly, however was the discovery and control of fermentation which, some would argue, led to the creation of real civilisation :)

I believe that we are not getting the nutrition from our food that we once had due to depletion of our soil and the overuse of chemical fertilisers. (in the eighties the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in an effort to dispense with certain waste products approved raffinate(chemical waste stream) which became a fertiliser loaded with heavy metals that bio-accumulate up the food chain)

I've also seen an increase in food allergies which I suspect is related to genetically modified food. I myself have become less tolerant of wheat products.

To promote a processed diet is I believe irresponsible and pandering to the food manufacturing industry.

However, a raw food diet is not tolerated well by everyone. So, once again we are left with that pesky circumstance that government works so hard to erase, our individualism. No two people are alike.

I agree with Narcissist that cooking food makes it easier for the digestive system, and in some cases makes it more nutritious, by way of freeing up nutrients that are locked away in uncooked non-cell-ruptured foods. Overcooking destroys nutrients.

But fresh is good too. Fresh fruit and the like is very good. Cooking it actually reduces palatability when eaten by itself, and destroys some nutrient value.

Processed and GM foods are another story.

Whether cooked food enabled a faster rate of evolution or adaptation for early Homo sapiens is a moot point. It could well be the case that as our ancestors developed new technologies and procured food more easily, they benefited accordingly, without cooking being a factor at all.

However I am inclined to agree with Roger that it was a factor in our early development. I just wonder how significant.

The issue with cooking and processing is not nutritional - it is about our attitudes that come with technology, thinking that we have become the masters of our universe.

If the choice is between a bigger brain or a humbler brain, I prefer the later.

Let me pose this one.

Given that obesity tends to lead to a lower sex drive perhaps obese people will tend to have fewer children while those who have a more sensible weight, because they have learnt somehow to cope with modern food, will have more children.

We may be in the middle of a massive "experiment" that future generations will say was just another piece of evidence for the idea of evolution through natural selection:)