Microwaving and its effects to Health

Microwave oven offers the utmost convenience to all the people who have busy lives and do not have enough time to spend on cooking. This invention is amazingly good for quick cooking or heating. Nearly every middle class home has one these days all over the world. Filipinos are also into this advancement since this is widely used by the other countries nowadays. However, there is still a level of doubt among many that using microwave oven makes food less healthy. 

Does cooking with microwave will take out all the nutrients in food? Or this may cause cancer?

 

Its Effects on Food

Cooking and heating foods using microwave oven is considered as an easy way out of kitchen chores. Many people are concerned about the loss of nutrients in foods when using it. There are Heat-sensitive, water-soluble vitamins found in foods especially in vegetables. The most common vitamins containing our daily foods are folic acid, vitamins B and C. The truth is, in view of the fact that microwave ovens use direct heat in lesser amount and entail shorter cooking times than conventional methods, therefore, they have less destructive nutritional effects.

 

In studies at Cornell University, scientists looked at the effects of cooking on water-soluble vitamins in vegetables and found that spinach retained nearly all its folate when cooked in a microwave, but lost about 77 percent when cooked on a stove. They also found out that cooking with microwave has significantly lower levels of cancer-causing nitrosamines compared to conventionally cooked foods.

Using microwave oven properly, do not destroy nutrients in food.

 

On the other hand, microwave ovens are not the best tool for thawing meats. It is better to defrost meat in the fridge, although thawing foods using microwave oven can also be okay under the accurate situation.

Health Issues

Intense radiation coming from microwave can cause burns, cataracts, temporary sterility and sometimes cancer because it can heat body tissues just as it heats food.

Some materials not approved for microwave cooking because it has chemical property that can migrate into food. Such materials are cold storage containers such as margarine tubs, cottage cheese containers and cartons. Also brown bags, newspapers and Styrofoam should not be used.

Metal containers is highly not recommended  for microwave cooking because metal disrupts the microwave energy pattern and produces a condition called “arcing”. 

 

The air between two metal objects within a microwave oven will get electrically charged, causing sparks similar to that of lightning and can eventually destroy the oven.

Don not use metal pans, china with metallic paint or trim, metal twist ties on package wrapping or food wrapped in aluminum foil.

On the other hand, there was a concern that certain electronics like cardiac pacemakers would be interfered by the leakage from microwave ovens. However, patients with pacemakers may consult their physicians for their concerns. For safety purposes, one must ensure that microwave ovens contain labels stating that they meet the safety standard and precautions are clearly explained.

Safe and nutritious cooking is everybody’s responsibility. Microwave oven is just a tool that helps alleviate a busy life and offers convenience in food preparation. It is up to us if we choose microwave oven or the conventional cooking as long as the food we prepare is healthy and nutritious to our body.