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> Enzymes, which are critical to digestion and health, are present only 
> in *living* cells.  Seeds are dormant, but still 
> living.  Rolled/crimped seeds have been "killed" and any enzyme 
> component would also be destroyed.
Sorry, but I just don't buy this in its most literal interpretation.

For openers, we humans are not equipped with the sort of dentition that
can deal with whole uncracked grains on any large scale.  (Healthy
horses do have some ability to do this.)  If it was so important for us
to have unbroken seeds in our diets, most of us would be long dead, as
our teeth would have given out and we would be unable to continue to
chew such a vital dietary component.

Nearly ALL the food we eat is "dead" by your definition.  Milk.  Meat. 
Fruits (unless you eat the seeds or pits).  Many vegetables.  Cereal
grains.  If it isn't broken in some way, it is cooked.  Or both.  And
yet we tend to live to healthy ripe old ages, unless we are really
foolish about what we eat.

I can't even think of the last time I might have eaten an uncracked
seed.  And not having the teeth of a horse, any that I have probably
went right on through.  And to use your nomenclature, if something
isn't digestible, id doesn't matter one whit how "nutritious" it might
be.

Certainly over-processing and long-term storage do decrease the nutrient
value of pretty much anything.  But some minimal sorts of processing are
certainly in order for most foods, at least for humans.  Additionally,
processing has added years to the lives of our domestic animals by
making them able to more readily digest, stay healthier, maintain their
teeth for longer, and continue to be alive and productive past the point
that their teeth can reasonably grind whole grains.

On the carnivore side of things, consider cats.  In the wild, they
certainly eat "live" food--or nearly live food.  And yet cats live much
longer in domestic settings where they get processed food.  (Granted,
that's in part due to their being able to live without predation and to
live past their ability to hunt--but still....)

And what about scavenger animals, that never do hunt and kill living
things, but instead live quite happily and healthily on decomposing
carcasses?  You can't convince ME that such food sources have the same
sort of enzymatic composition as when they were alive!  And yet, for
many species, that is the norm.

This is a really pretty idea, but it just doesn't fit real life.

Heidi  (for whom a potato is probably gonna be the closest to a
reproductively-capable thing that I eat tonight--but I'm sure not gonna
eat it raw!  The cow is dead, the broccoli is all hacked up in little
pieces and cooked, and I don't think the carrot will grow either, even
if I stick it back in the ground...  And if I see anything growing out
of my milk glass, I'm gonna run screaming to your house!)


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