Though it has completely revolutionised cooking convenience, many people believe microwaving to be a major health concern. Let’s be honest; the idea of cooking by using an oven that passes electromagnetic waves over food doesn’t exactly smack of wellness! These waves excite water molecules, causing heat-generating friction which cooks your food. But does that radiation really hamper your wellbeing?
There are several reasons why people are afraid of the microwave effect:
1. Potential carcinogenic toxins (or, in other words, cancer)
2. Zapping all the valuable nutrients from food
3. Long-term brain damage
4. Unknown by-products in microwaved food that the human body is unable to metabolise
5. Alteration of male and female sexual hormones
6. Weakened immune system
7. Mental health problems, such as memory loss, lack of focus and emotional instability
However, even though these are commonly asserted fears, finding evidence for these claims amongst distinguished, highly researched and peer-reviewed journals is pretty much impossible. On a technical level, microwaves emit radiation. However, these radiations are not damaging to DNA by any means. The radiation emitted from microwaves – as well as radio and mobile phone towers – is known as non-ionising radiation and researchers are still struggling to show that there’s a definitive link between this kind of radiation and cancer.
Seeing as a few studies have managed to show a correlation between cancer and non-ionising radiation, let’s take a micro second to dissect the possibility that microwaves cause cancer. Even if the radiation is nuking your food, this does not instantly mean that these radiations then become passed on to your body or the environment. The microwave has been gracing kitchen counters every since 1954, so if it really was doing that much damage to everyone’s wellbeing, we’d all be walking round with severe cancer, radiation poisoning, retardation and malnutrition. Ok, maybe we wouldn’t be walking around, but you get the point.
Finally, if you’re concerned about the nutritional content of the food that has been microwaved, don’t forget that chemical reactions happen to any food which is cooked. Whether you steam it, bake it or sauté it, you will lose the vitamin B and other water soluble nutrients from your veg. One study has even found that exposing food to electromagnetic rays can actually kill bacteria, making it much safer to eat! So, as long as you use your microwave responsibly and make sure it’s in a good, working condition, I wouldn’t worry about it.
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