Is Microwave Food Safe To Eat?
Microwave ovens have become the kind of appliance that people can't
imagine living without. We use them for everything from heating
leftovers to cooking turkeys. Not only that, but the food industry has
been kind enough to supply us with plenty of microwavable food options.
To add more to that, other companies have provided us with all kinds of
tools to make microwave cooking easier, even to the point of cooking a
multi-course meal all at one time. You gotta love it! But, are there any
tradeoffs? Is microwave food really safe to eat?
Nutritional Value of Microwave Food
First, let's talk about the nutritional value of foods. A good
example is vegetables. If you eat canned vegetables, you are sacrificing
the nutrition that is available in frozen and fresh vegetables. But, if
you decide to boil your fresh or frozen vegetables you are still
sacrificing much of the nutrition. It's a proven fact that steamed
vegetables are much more nutritious than canned or boiled. So, chalk one
up for the microwave. It is easy to steam veggies in a microwave safe
dish or bag and you get most of the health benefits to boot.
NOTE: Some vegetables actually retain more nutrients by steaming them on
the stove rather than by microwaving. That is beyond the scope of this
article so you might want to do your own due diligence. A microwave can
tend to destroy the B12 vitamins in some vegetables.
Here's another interesting fact: microwave bacon has much lower levels
of carcinogens than traditionally cooked bacon. And it's not just bacon.
The microwave can save you from eating carcinogens that can be found in
fried foods and some baked foods. Starting to sound safe now, right?
Does Microwave Radiation In Foods Cause Cancer?
The best answer anyone can give you right now is, "No." For one
thing, the radiation from a microwave is not the same kind of radiation
that you would get from an x-ray, so it doesn't have the ability to turn
into anything cancerous. It won't give you cancer by standing near the
microwave, and it won't give you cancer from exposing your food to the
microwave radiation used to cook the food.
The type of radiation that cooks your food is called non-ionizing
microwave radiation, meaning that it can't ionize the molecules and
atoms, meaning that it can't cause cancer. In other words, non-ionizing
radiation is not mutagenic, meaning that it cannot mutate or change the
genetic material, or DNA, of an organism. So, while ionizing radiation,
such as ultra-violet light and x-rays 'can' cause cancer, the radiation
from your microwave can't. Make sense? X-ray dangerous - sun dangerous -
microwave NOT dangerous.
So, is microwave food safe to eat? The answer is a resounding yes. So,
don't worry - be happy - and go make that microwave casserole dish
you've been thinking about.
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