Do Microwaves Damage Food?

The Radiation Issue

• Many try to leave a greener earth and live with less toxins in their diets and lives. Microwave cooking seems counter to these desires, so it must be harmful. It just isn't natural for food to be cooked at such speed. Cooking is a slow, homey process associated with the hearth and family. Rapidly "nuking" food even sounds wrong. Nuke is a shorthand for "nuclear," which means radiation. Microwaves use non-ionizing radiation, which is too weak to manipulate DNA or move electrons. It is a low level radiation that is also found in your cell phone and radio waves.

How Microwaves Work

• Radiation is the emission of energy. It can come from many types of sources. In a microwave it comes from a magnetron inside the oven that converts the electricity into short frequency radio waves or energy. The water molecules in food absorb the energy and turn it into heat. Usual cooking methods put food into heat, but in a microwave the water in the food is needed to produce the heat. The heat is carried quickly to all parts of food, including the center, which is why microwaves can cook food so quickly.

What Happens to the Nutrients

• Your food is made up of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, proteins and fats, among a few other things. Both water soluble and insoluble vitamins are in food. Both fare well in the microwave because they are not boiled away in water or exposed to excess heat, which will dissolve them. Minerals are usually water soluble, so microwave cooking actually preserves these. The gentle even heat of microwaving does not cause browning, which can remove fat, but it preserves the quality of the protein.

The Envelope Please

• A study conducted by Cornell University tested the foliate levels of spinach cooked in a microwave and in a conventional manner and found it kept all the nutrients when nuked and lost 77 percent when cooked on the stove. Water is responsible for most of the nutrient loss, so vegetables cooked in a bowl of water in the microwave could experience the same reduction. However, microwaves do not require water for cooking as the energy uses the existing water in food to steam it. Breast milk should not be heated in the microwave because it will kill the natural antibodies and some of the nutrients. Ongoing studies are being conducted about the long-term effects of microwaving, and each person should make his own decision. However, the appliance is good for many things and seems to be here to stay.