The
Hidden Hazards Of Microwave Cooking
by Anthony Wayne and Lawrence Newell
Is
it possible that millions of people are ignorantly sacrificing
their health in exchange for the convenience of microwave ovens?
Why did the Soviet Union ban the use of microwave ovens in 1976?
Who invented microwave ovens, and why? The answers to these questions
may shock you into throwing your microwave oven in the trash.
Over
90% of American homes have microwave ovens used for meal preparation.
Because microwave ovens are so convenient and energy efficient,
as compared to conventional ovens, very few homes or restaurants
are without them. In general, people believe that whatever a microwave
oven does to foods cooked in it doesn't have any negative effect
on either the food or them.
Of
course, if microwave ovens were really harmful, our government
would never allow them on the market, would they? Would they?
Regardless of what has been "officially" released concerning
microwave ovens, we have personally stopped using ours based on
the research facts outlined in this article.
The
purpose of this report is to show proof - evidence - that microwave
cooking is not natural, nor healthy, and is far more dangerous
to the human body than anyone could imagine.
However,
the microwave oven manufacturers, Washington City politics, and
plain old human nature are suppressing the facts and evidence.
Because of this, people are continuing to microwave their food
- in blissful ignorance - without knowing the effects and danger
of doing so.
How
do microwave ovens work?
Microwaves
are a form of electromagnetic energy, like light waves or radio
waves, and occupy a part of the electromagnetic spectrum of power,
or energy. In our modern technological age, microwaves are used
to relay long distance telephone signals, television programs,
and computer information across the earth or to a satellite in
space. But the microwave is most familiar to us as an energy source
for cooking food.
Every
microwave oven contains a magnetron, a tube in which electrons
are affected by magnetic and electric fields in such a way as
to produce micro wavelength radiation at about 2450 Mega Hertz
(MHz) or 2.45 Giga Hertz (GHz). This microwave radiation interacts
with the molecules in food.
All
wave energy changes polarity from positive to negative with each
cycle of the wave. In microwaves, these polarity changes happen
millions of times every second. Food molecules - especially the
molecules of water - have a positive and negative end in the same
way a magnet has a north and a south polarity.
In
commercial models, the oven has a power input of about 1000 watts
of alternating current. As these microwaves generated from the
magnetron bombard the food, they cause the polar molecules to
rotate at the same frequency millions of times a second.
All
this agitation creates molecular "friction", which heats
up the food. This unusual type of heating also causes substantial
damage to the surrounding molecules, often tearing them apart
or forcefully deforming them.
By
comparison, microwaves from the sun are based on principles of
pulsed direct current (DC) that don't create frictional heat;
microwave ovens use alternating current (AC) creating frictional
heat.
A
microwave oven produces a spiked wavelength of energy with all
the power going into only one narrow frequency of the energy spectrum.
Energy from the sun operates in a wide frequency spectrum.
Many
terms are used in describing electromagnetic waves, such as wavelength,
amplitude, cycle and frequency:
Wavelength
determines the type of radiation, i.e. radio, X-ray, ultraviolet,
visible, infrared, etc.
Amplitude determines the extent of movement measured from the
starting point.
Cycle determines the unit of frequency, such as cycles per second,
Hertz, Hz, or cycles/second.
Frequency determines the number of occurrences within a given
time period (usually 1 second); The number of occurrences of a
recurring process per unit of time, i.e. the number of repetitions
of cycles per second.
Radiation = spreading energy with electromagnetic waves
We've all been told that microwaving food is not the same as irradiating
it (radiation "treatment"). The two processes are supposed
to use completely different waves of energy and at different intensities.
No
FDA or officially released government studies have proven current
microwaving usage to be harmful, but we all know that the validity
of studies can be - and are sometimes deliberately - limiting.
Many of these studies are later proven to be inaccurate. As consumers,
we're supposed to have a certain degree of common sense to use
in judgment.
Take
the example of eggs and how they were "proven" to be
so harmful to our health in the late 1960's. This brought about
imitation egg products and big profits for the manufacturers,
while egg farms went broke.
Now,
recent government sponsored studies are saying that eggs are not
bad for us after all. So, whom should we believe and what criteria
should we use to decide matters concerning our health?
Since
it's currently published that microwaves - purportedly - don't
leak into the environment, when properly used and with approved
design, the decision lies with each consumer as to whether or
not you choose to eat food heated by a microwave oven or even
purchase one in the first place.
Motherly
instincts are right
On
a more humorous side, the "sixth sense" every mother
has is impossible to argue with. Have you ever tried it? Children
will never win against a mother's intuition. It's like trying
to argue with the arm - appearing out of nowhere - that pinned
you to the back of the seat when your mother slammed on the brakes.
Many
of us come from a generation where mothers and grandmothers have
distrusted the modern "inside out" cooking they claimed
was "not suitable" for most foods. My mother refused
to even try baking anything in a microwave.
She
also didn't like the way a cup of coffee tasted when heated in
a microwave oven. I have to fully agree and can't argue either
fact. Her own common sense and instincts told her that there was
no way microwave cooking could be natural nor make foods "taste
they way they're supposed to".
Reluctantly,
even my mother succumbed to re-heating leftovers in a microwave
due to her work schedule before she retired.
Many
others feel the same way, but they're considered an "old
fashioned" minority dating back to before the 1970's when
microwaves first overwhelmed the market.
Like
most young adults at the time, as microwave ovens became commonplace,
I chose to ignore my mother's intuitive wisdom and joined the
majority who believed microwave cooking was far too convenient
to ever believe anything could be wrong with it.
Chalk
one up for mom's perception, because even though she didn't know
the scientific, technical, or health reasons why, she just knew
that microwave ovens were not good based on how foods tasted when
they were cooked in them. She didn't like the way the texture
of the microwaved food changed either.
Microwaves
unsafe for baby's milk
A
number of warnings have been made public, but have been barely
noticed. For example, Young Families, the Minnesota Extension
Service of the University of Minnesota, published the following
in 1989:
"Although
microwaves heat food quickly, they are not recommended for heating
a baby's bottle. The bottle may seem cool to the touch, but the
liquid inside may become extremely hot and could burn the baby's
mouth and throat.
Also,
the buildup of steam in a closed container, such as a baby bottle,
could cause it to explode. Heating the bottle in a microwave can
cause slight changes in the milk. In infant formulas, there may
be a loss of some vitamins.
In
expressed breast milk, some protective properties may be destroyed.
Warming a bottle by holding it under tap water, or by setting
it in a bowl of warm water, then testing it on your wrist before
feeding may take a few minutes longer, but it is much safer."
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