Microwave dangers a hot topic
published:
Monday | March 17, 2008
When it comes to convenience, few devices can compare to the microwave. Over 90 per cent of homes in North America have them and their popularity in Jamaica is rising rapidly. There is evidence to suggest that millions of people may be exchanging their health for the convenience of microwave ovens. Before you use your microwave one more time, you might want to consider some facts.
Microwaves are electromagnetic waves with a wavelength shorter than that of a normal radio wave. Microwaves are used in radar, in communications, and for heating in microwave ovens. The Germans used the first microwave units during the Second World War. The Russians researched their biological effects after the war, and because of what they learned, banned microwave ovens over 30 years ago.
IS ANYTHING WRONG?
In 1991, a United States lawsuit involved a woman who had hip surgery and died because the blood used in her blood transfusion was warmed in a microwave. The microwave altered the blood and it killed the woman.
Microwaves heat your food by causing it to resonate at very high frequencies. This may effectively heat your food, but also causes changes in the chemical structure of the food. Ordinary heating of food can cause problems by itself, but when you heat it with microwaves, you have additional damage from the negative energy frequencies.
HEALTH CONCERNS
The most compelling evidence supporting the dangers of microwaves comes from a study done by Dr Hans Hertel, a Swiss food scientist, who concluded that microwave cooking significantly altered food. Dr Hertel's findings showed significant and disturbing changes in the blood of indivi-duals consuming microwaved milk and vegetables. Volunteers ate various combinations of these foods cooked in different ways. All foods that were cooked in microwave ovens caused changes in the blood of the volunteers. Haemoglobin levels decreased and overall white blood cell levels and cholesterol levels increased.
UNEVEN COOKING
Microwaves do not cook food evenly. Using microwaves to heat frozen hamburgers, to cook fish or chicken, and to rewarm dishes may result in cool areas remaining in the centre of the food. This could promote the survival of disease-causing germs and lead to food poisoning.
HUMAN EXPOSURE
No one knows what are safe levels of exposure to microwaves. Researchers have found that low-level exposure to microwaves can cause eye damage, resulting in cataracts. Experts also report a reduction in personnel efficiency, and even a possible link to cancer. Although the significance for humans of repeated exposure to low- levels of microwave radiation is still unclear, there is enough evidence to warrant certain commonsensical precautions:
Stay at least an arm's length from an operating microwave oven.
Do not operate an oven when it is empty.
Do not operate an oven if the door will not close properly or is damaged in any way.
Never tamper with the safety switches or the fuse.
Minimise your use of microwave ovens.
MICROWAVES ALTER FOOD
Microwave oven manufacturers insist that microwaved foods are no more damaged than broiled, baked or other conventionally cooked foods. The scientific evidence has shown that this is not so.
Many of the vitamins in food are destroyed by cooking. Microwaving destroys vitamins five times more quickly than does regular cooking. Microwave heating, for example, inactivates vitamin B12. Researchers found that after just six minutes of microwaving, nearly half of the vitamin B12 in food was destroyed. Vitamin B12 was singled out for study since it is of vital importance in preventing several chronic major diseases.
A study published in the November 2003 issue of The Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture found that broccoli 'zapped' in the microwave with a little water lost up to 97 per cent of the beneficial antioxidant chemicals it contains. By comparison, steamed broccoli lost 11 per cent or less of its antioxidants.
IMPACT ON PLASTIC
Do not use a microwave to heat fatty foods in plastic containers because the combination of fat, high heat and plastics releases chemicals called dioxins into the food. Dioxins are carcinogenic (cancer-forming) and highly toxic. If you cook with microwaves, carcinogenic toxins could be leached from your plastic plates or covers right into your food.
Microwaves heat your food by causing it to resonate at very high frequencies. This may effectively heat your food but also causes changes in the chemical structure of the food.
Email Dr Tony Vendryes at Vendryes@mac.com, visit our website at www.anounceofoprevention.org or listen to 'An Ounce of Prevention' on POWER106FM on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.
