In today’s society, most people
have no idea how everyday items work. We go about our daily lives using
machines that we have no understanding of how they work. Earlier in the week I
asked 50 people, “How often do you use a microwave for heating or cooking?” 33%
of those people said they use a microwave 3 times a week. In the hope of
shedding some light on our seemingly dark world, I decided to investigate
microwave ovens (or microwaves for short).
Hitting food with crazy waves
seems kind of sketchy to me, so I wanted to figure out if it is safe to use or
not. When looking up information on microwave ovens, it’s very confusing
deciding which information is correct. On one hand, people say it’s bad and can
cause cancer. On the other hand, people say it’s good and can help prevent
cancer. It’s hard to make a decision when you have conflicting information.
Here are just a few of the quotes I ran across during my research:
“While X-rays, gamma radiation,
and even sunlight can cause cancer, microwave radiation cannot because it
simply doesn’t pack enough power to damage your DNA.” - Gary Zeman of the
Health Physics Society in McLean, Virginia
“I generally recommend that
patients microwave their meats for 1-5
minutes and discard the juices
before grilling.” [The juices are said to be linked to cancer]- Cyndi Thomson of
the Arizona Cancer Center at the University of Arizona
“If you microwave your food you’re
zapping away nutrients and risking your
health,” says physician Joseph Mercola,
who recommends that consumers
get rid of their microwave ovens
and eat at least a third of their food raw.
“Actually, microwaving retains
more nutrients than other forms of cooking, if you don’t use a lot of water and
don’t overcook the food.” - Barry Swanson, food scientist
“There is a tendency for most
microwave users to cook everything on high power, except when defrosting. High
is the default setting. The higher the power, the stronger the electric field,
and the more damaging it is to nutrients. So, the lower the power, the safer
[it is]. But only some microwave ovens are capable of true low power cooking.
The microwave ovens equipped with inverter magnetrons actually reduce the power
instead of just cycling it between high and off.” – John Andrews,
naturalnews.com
“Cooking food destroys nutrients,
whether it's on a stove, or in the microwave oven. But microwaving food on high
power can be more destructive than cooking on the stove. So if you use a
microwave, use one with an inverter magnetron, and cook on low power. Cooking
on true low power (not intermittent high) will greatly reduce the amount of
damage done to the food. Even on low power, I still don't know if a stove or
microwave is worse. It's like asking me if I'd rather get beat by a club, or
shocked by a taser.” John Andrews, naturalnews.com
The information on this topic is
very conflicting. I even ran across an article about a little girl’s scientific
experiment of microwave water verses boiled water that has been recycled all
over the web and doesn’t show any true scenes of origin:
Ten Reasons to dispose of your
microwave oven:
1.) Continually eating food
processed from a microwave oven causes long term – permanent – brain damage by
‘shorting out’ electrical impulses in the brain [de-polarizing or
de-magnetizing the brain tissue].
2). The human body cannot
metabolize [break down] the unknown by-products created in microwaved food.
3). Male and female hormone
production is shut down and/or altered by continually eating microwaved foods.
-Unknown Origin (many users)
Is this experiment real or not?
Who knows? In the world of the Internet, anybody can post information about
anything and claim that it’s true. Even Youtube was divided on the issue. After
3 hours of watching microwave videos both pro and con, I still can’t tell you
if it’s safe to use or not. That’s pretty ridiculous! I can only tell you how
it works and the side effects of cooking with a microwave oven. Since water
evaporates when exposed to high energies, your food can be dried out or even
taste funny from being cooked in microwaves. As far as it causing cancer, I don’t
know. The official U.S. Department of Health website had no information on
microwave use, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did cause cancer. It seems
like everything in America causes cancers these days. I guess we’re just forced
to do what we think is right and see what happens afterwards.
-Just a thought, Devonte Hill
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