Does Microwaving Kill Nutrients In Your Food?

My wife and I are moving into a new condo this month and have been making a list of things we need to get for our new space. During this process we noticed that there is no built-in microwave above the stove. Of course this means we’ll have to get one…right?

There was a time (yes, WAY back in my lazy student years) when the only “necessary” kitchen appliance in my life was the microwave. Eggs, veggies, chicken, whatever food I wanted to eat could be cooked in the microwave in record time. Nowadays, my health takes priority over saving a few minutes so I have to ask the question:

Should you use a microwave at all? I’m not just talking about cooking vegetables – Should a microwave even be part of your kitchen?

It’s been over thirty years since microwaves were popularized in homes worldwide and it is now used in 93% of North American kitchens. Maybe I’m overreacting? Maybe microwaves aren’t killing us with their fast-cooking radiation beams after all?

Does The Microwave Kill Nutrients In Your Food?

This is one of the biggest “slams” on microwave cooking. “Don’t use the microwave – it kills all the nutrients in your food!”

Guess what? Every time food is cooked, regardless of the cooking method, it will lose some of its nutrient value. In fact, microwave cooking isn’t always the biggest nutrient-killer. In general, boiling vegetables is the most nutrient-draining cooking method because the water has a leaching effect.

Microwaving your carrots for 60 seconds in a little water actually preserves more nutrients that boiling them in a pot of water for a longer period of time.

To take this a step further, cooking (and yes, microwaving) some foods actually provides increased nutrient availability versus eating them raw! Research from the Cornell University found that microwaving or steaming carrots, spinach, mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, green and red peppers, and tomatoes led to an increase in the antioxidant content of the foods (i.e. the antioxidants became more available for absorption when we eat them!)

And still more research shows that lycopene, the powerful antioxidant that gives tomatoes and watermelon their red colour, is better absorbed by the body when it’s consumed in cooked or processed tomato products such as salsa, spaghetti sauce, ketchup rather than fresh tomatoes.

Wait…So The Microwave Isn’t Bad After All?

Not so fast. We know that cooking food usually degrades its nutritional value and that microwaving definitely has this effect. But, there are other concerns about using a microwave aside from just the nutrients it kills.

A Scary Science Fair Experiment

A elementary school girl conducted an interesting experiment a few years ago. She took two identical plants, put them in the exact same environment (i.e. same pots, soil, sunlight, etc), but fed one purified water and the other water that had been heated in a microwave and then cooled. Here’s what happened:

Why did that plant die after drinking microwaved water? While nobody knows for sure, there are several theories. One explanation is that that the experiment is simply flawed. The student heated the microwaved water in a plastic cup. This opens the water up to a leaching effect.

When heated in a microwave, many plastics release toxins into the food (or water) they contain. This is not really up for debate – Plastics not labelled “microwave safe” do pose a leaching threat and even some with that label are questioned for their safety.

Other scientists postulate that microwaving alters the DNA of whatever is being cooked. Heating water in the microwave may actual change the chemical structure of the water to the point of it being “deadly” to feed to a plant. If this is the case, it certainly makes you wonder what the microwave is doing to the food you eat.

What About All That Radiation From The Microwave?

The radiation used in microwave technology differs from that kind we typically think of…we’re not eating food that comes out of a mini nuclear power plant! The electromagnetic frequencies being used are the same as those emitted from power lines, laptops and cell phones. Whatever the source, too much electromagnetic radiation is harmful as it can lead to DNA destruction and increased incidence of cancer.

That being said, how much electromagnetic radiation is too much? The amount we absorb from being near a microwave is very small and has been deemed safe by the FDA and other regulatory boards. But, the cumulative effect of radiation from the microwave, along with all the other sources in our technology-filled lives, may pose real health risks.

Should I Ditch My Microwave?

It really depends on how you use it and what your risk tolerance is like. If you are heating things regularly in the microwave then you are missing out on much nutritional value your food has to offer.

This is even more true if you are using the microwave to re-heat food – The nutrient value is eroded with every cooking session. But, the same could be said for boiling veggies so where does that leave us?

I think the real dangers of using a microwave are those that aren’t fully understood. The microwave is still a relatively young invention and the long-term effects of using it aren’t clear.

For me, I’ve boycotted the microwave for the last few years and plan on sticking with that decision. (Although we did end up buying a microwave range hood for our new condo. Go figure)