4 Microwave Myths We Still Believe

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Many people still doubt whether microwave radiation is safe for health. The life hacker understands how justified such fears are.

1. Microwaving lowers the nutrient content of foods

Any processing of food, including heating and cooling, leads to a change in their physical properties, chemical composition and nutritional value. Microwaved food will lose a lot of its nutrients only if it is cooked at too high a temperature or for too long. The right time-to-temperature ratio will help preserve the goodness and flavor of the foods.

Microwaving will not reduce the content of vitamins and other health-promoting substances. Because foods cook faster, they retain beneficial chemicals, polyphenols, and antioxidants even better.

Usually, cooking food destroys vitamin C the most during cooking. But this happens mainly during cooking, because water-soluble nutrients are easily washed out with water during boiling. Much less of this vitamin is lost in the microwave.

The researchers also compared cooking vegetables (cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, spinach) in the microwave, steamed, and in a pressure cooker. It turned out that vegetables cooked in the pressure cooker lost more insoluble dietary fiber, which is good for the intestines, than those cooked in the microwave and steamed.

2. Microwaved Foods Cause Cancer

Heterocyclic aromatic amines (HCA) are now among the best studied carcinogens. They form during cooking in protein-rich foods such as fish and meat, especially when cooked at high temperatures.

Moreover, the method of heat treatment significantly affects the formation of HCA. According to some reports, chicken produces more HCA when it is cooked in a microwave oven than when it is pan and grilled or baked in the oven. However, there is no evidence that regular consumption of microwaved chicken causes cancer.

Another study found that grilled fish had higher HCA levels than microwaved fish, and microwave-cooked beef was not found to contain HCA at all.

Defrosting and heating ready-made food in the microwave does not cause the formation of this carcinogen at all.

3. Plastic dishes are harmful to health when heated in the microwave

There are concerns that when heated in a microwave oven, some of the chemicals from plastics can enter food and increase the risk of cancer. But most plastic utensils are now specially designed to withstand high temperatures and be safe. These utensils have an icon indicating that they are designed for microwave ovens. The likelihood that such plastic will spoil food is minimal.

Before placing the container in the microwave, check if it has the appropriate safety mark on it. If not, reheat food in glass or ceramic dishes.

4. Microwaving kills harmful bacteria

Any heat treatment significantly reduces the risk of food poisoning. The only problem is that when heating food in a microwave oven, the temperature is unevenly distributed. Having taken food out of the microwave, you probably noticed that it warmed up in some places, but not in others. This increases the potential risk of infection. Therefore, while heating in the microwave, remember to stir and turn the food so that it warms up evenly.

Above 60 ° C, most foodborne bacteria are killed. But the toxins they produce are more resistant to high temperatures. They can remain in food even after heating.

So don't rely on microwave cooking to magically transform spoiled food into safe food by killing bacteria. If the product goes bad, throw it away and do not risk your health.