The Case Against Microwaves
The adage "You are what you eat" rings true, emphasizing the importance of paying attention to both the types of foods you consume and the methods you use to prepare them. However, when discussing microwaves, it seems that ease of use may compromise both food safety and nutritional value.
Traditional cooking methods, such as stovetop and baking, warm food slowly and evenly, gently coaxing flavors and nutrients to their fullest potential. In contrast, microwaves heat food differently, using electromagnetic energy similar to light or radio waves, traveling at the speed of light. This causes water molecules to vibrate 2.5 billion times per second, eventually turning to steam. So while it rapidly heats a dish, it also violently rips the molecules in your food apart, rendering some nutrients inert at best, and carcinogenic at its worst.
Some experts claim that microwaving food actually preserves nutrients due to shorter cooking times. However, this argument appears illogical due to intense, rapid vibrations, or violent frictional heat (thermic effects)—of microwaved foods. These result in the formation of new compounds (radiolytic compounds) unknown to man and nature.
In the early 1990’s, Hans Hertel, a Swiss researcher, was among the first to investigate microwave radiation's effects on food nutrients. His findings suggested that microwave cooking changes nutrient composition and leads to changes in blood chemistry indicative of deterioration. His research, published in 1992 in Search for Health and later in Acres USA, indicated that consuming microwaved food could create cancer-like effects in the blood.
The study wasn’t without shortcomings, as it involved only eight participants, and his methodology didn’t stand up to the scientific rigors of the field. But despite Hertel's methodological shortcomings, his findings do raise concerns about what this form of radiation is doing to your food and should be taken as a launching point to larger, more robust studies.
For example, a peer-reviewed study reveals that microwaving milk caused more oxidative damage to proteins than boiling it. Other studies indicate that microwaving vegetables can lead to a significant loss of nutrients—in some instances removing 97% of flavonoids—plant compounds with anti-inflammatory benefits.
And in “Comparative Study of Food Prepared Conventionally versus the Microwave Oven”, (Raum & Zelt, 1992, at 3(2): 43), it states:
Microwaved food contains unusual molecules and energies not found in traditionally cooked food. These ovens create rapid polarity reversals in molecules that can alter the structure of amino acids, and bring about troubling changes in blood, including decreased hemoglobin, and altered white cell and cholesterol levels.
The effects attributed to microwaved foods bear striking similarities to those associated with junk food. Their rapid and forceful transformative process appears to reduce nutritional content to the point of making foods more harmful to human health.
The best ways of cooking are still traditional. Use stove top reheating on low heat for gentle warming and preservation of nutrients. At work, avoid microwaves by packing cold lunches, or shakes, soups, and stews, kept either cold or hot in insulated thermoses.
If we’re to stay healthy, we need to prioritize safety and nutrition with food. We have one life to live and our choices dictate our health and quality of life.
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