Is Your Microwave Cooking Making You Sick?

I thought I'd share this article on the dangers of microwave cooking which has great relevance to a significant number of the population, especially in developed countries.

Microwave cooking is one of the best things that ever happened to the lives of busy people because it is convenient and quick. The trade-off, however, is simply not acceptable.

Microwave ovens have been around for about 40 or so years. Aside from television, it is present in almost every home in America, indicating its widespread use.

Is microwave cooking safe?

Let us tackle this question by citing findings from the only 2 in-depth studies done on them. These two research studies, done in Switzerland and Russia, both concluded that microwaving foods significantly deteriorated the nutrient value of the food, distorted its protein molecules, and created new, radically unnatural compounds. Most alarming, however, was that the subjects' health deteriorated from eating the microwaved foods.

Here are the findings:

• Blood hemoglobin (the extremely important oxygen-carrying component of the blood) decreased  significantly. 
• White blood cell count rose, (as it does in response to an infection).
• LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) increased, and HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol) decreased.
• Carcinogenic (cancer-causing) agents in foods increased.
• Higher incidence of digestive system cancers.

The Russian scientists found the microwave oven significantly scary enough to actually ban its use--up until recently.

Microwaving has the following effects on food:

• Significantly less B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E, essential minerals and fats.
• Broken down and de-natured proteins.
• Loss of vital enzymes and phytochemicals.

And here is a really interesting study—done on grain germination:

The grain watered with cooled microwaved water would not not even germinate or grow! It’s pretty obvious that microwaving changed the water chemically and destroyed its ability to nourish a plant.

Ok, so maybe it’s ok to just heat leftovers in the microwave oven once in a while?

NO! Actually, food heated in a microwave is heated unevenly creating super-heated spots and cool spots. Those cool spots may actually harbor bacterial growth such as salmonella, and you end up with food poisoning.

In addition, when you heat food using plastic containers or plastic wrap in contact with your food, you end up getting all sorts of nasty carcinogenic chemicals like di(ethylhexyl)adepate, or DEHA, Bisphenol-A or BPA, and xenoestrogens (synthetic estrogens) in your food!

In one recent study, it was found that carcinogenic ingredients in plastic wrap were 10,000 times the FDA limit for safety!

Exposure to BPA has been shown to cause reproductive problems and erectile dysfunction, and has been linked with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in humans.

Xenoestrogens can cause low sperm counts and feminization (like the dreaded “man boobs”) in men, and breast cancer and reproductive problems in women. It also promotes weight gain around the belly and chest in men, and it shows up as fat in the butt, hips, thighs, and the back of arms, in women.

So, in addition to being really unhealthy, microwaved foods can make you fat!

by: Catherine Ebeling - RN, BSN 
     Mike Geary - Certified Nutrition Specialist
     co-authors - The Fat Burning Kitchen