Does protein degrade if you cook it?

[brutesinme]

Does it?

[LAW]

I've thought about this myself but I don't have the answer.

[brutesinme]

anyone have an answer?

[TheNextBigThing]

Someone made a pretty good post about protein a little while back (I can't remember if it was here or not) but it talked about RTD shakes and how in order for companies to legally sell them, they must be pasturized. This in turn leads to a breakdown of protein and not as much being left in the RTDs. So I would think that it probably wouldn't be a good idea.

[novastepp]

I do believe that heating it isn't bad but it's when you burn it that it loses its nutritional quality. yeah, burning it is called denaturing, and that is not good news. But heating i believe may make proteins more easily digested by the body? i'm not sure about that last part, but heating or cooking won't do much damage at all, but when you chemically change the protein (burn it) you will lose value.