Is the microwave oven harmful?
Harmful is the microwave
The microwave oven was invented by Percy LeBaron Spencer in 1945. Accidentally. Its serial production began in 1947. Initially, it was mainly used for defrosting food. She was very expensive. It was mainly used in the army. It was patented in 1950. Since 1955, a version suitable for household needs has been produced, and it has been widely used in households since 1962 to this day.
As with any fast-moving commercial product, there is a tremendous amount of positive and equally negative information about the microwave oven, most likely due to competition.
Many people claim that microwave food is dangerous and can cause health problems. There are no fewer people for whom the microwave oven is a convenient and safe way to quickly prepare food.
Where is the truth?
Microwave ovens use high frequency radio waves for heating. These waves penetrate the food and cause certain molecules to “vibrate,” releasing the heat needed for cooking. These waves represent the so-called “non-ionizing radiation“.
Opponents of microwave ovens emphasize the word “radiation” and leave out the definition “non-ionizing knowingly or not.”
The fact that the radiation in microwave ovens is not ionizing means that there is not enough energy to cause chemical changes in food. The energy emitted to the environment is even smaller and tends to be negligible due to the additional protective measures taken in the product itself – screen, grounding, etc.
Some people think that microwave ovens make food toxic. But since there are no chemical changes in the food, there is no way for it to become toxic. On the contrary, it leads to greater preservation of nutrients. A study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health found that microwaved broccoli retained 97 percent of its vitamin C content, which is quite an achievement!
Another concern is the release of harmful substances such as bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates and dioxins. There is absolutely no way to separate these from the food when cooking in a microwave oven. They could rather exist somewhere, for example in inappropriate plastic containers. Research shows that the levels of these substances end up being much lower in food cooked in a microwave oven using different cooking foil or dishes with some kind of special coating than in similar food , prepared according to traditional methods.
There is concern that microwaving could cause radioactivity in food, but the levels were so low that they did not pose a health risk. This cannot happen without the presence of ionizing radiation, such as X-rays or nuclear radiation (alpha, beta, gamma rays). There is no evidence that cancer formations in conditions of high levels of non-ionizing radiation are caused precisely by it, and even with microwave ovens, these levels are too low to cause any harm.
Conclusion
There is no evidence that food cooked in a microwave oven is harmful to our health. A Microwave oven provides the same, often even better, nutritional value to the food being prepared than traditional cooking methods. The Microwave oven can be a convenient and efficient way to quickly heat or prepare food. If there is any flaw at all, it must be sought in the taste qualities of the food, or in its nutritional or chemical composition.
In today’s world that trusts influencers more than science, one must carefully select their sources of information before making an informed decision. Therefore, we do not intend to convince you of anything and will leave it up to you to decide for yourself whether microwave ovens are harmful or not.
In our family, we use Herbalife products, which do not require a microwave oven in any way.
