system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
If all material is eaten, are cooked vegetables less nutritious than raw ones?
gpt
For various plants, for example broccoli, many of the nutrients are locked within strong cell walls, made of cellulose. Humans do not digest cellulose too well, and a lot of the nutrients in the cells are not available as a result.

Cooking these foods weakens or breaks down these cell walls to allow for more complete digestion. But overcooking can break down other nutrients. So cooking enough to weaken the cellulose walls without destroying these other nutrients is optimal.