Is it unhealthy to microwave food?
In my book I discuss the importance of dietary nutrients in fighting depression. We need to add them to our diets. But the flip side of the coin is that we need to preserve the nutrients we have. We need to avoid activities that will require more nutrients. Stress and toxic exposure, for instance, can actually deplete our body of nutrients. A previous version of the book had an expanded section on structures and an entire chapter was dedicated to "food structures." We have cut this area out of the book to keep the book focused on food nutrients, but it is still an interest of mine and may be another book at some point. In researching that part of the book, I intended to include research on the microwave - does microwaving our food affect its nutrient content?
There is research on nutrient loss in microwaved food. The loss is not much greater than other cooked foods and it may be less in some cases. But what I hoped to find more studies on is whether the microwave does something really sinister to food. I've wondered about that for years and heard a lot of rumors.
There is Hans Hertel's swiss study as reported widely on the internet by Tom Valentine. Although Tom Valentine lives on the central coast here in California where I vacation regularly, an email to him about the study got me nowhere.
There have been discussions on message boards about microwaved water not supporting life. These discussions increased about a year ago when a grade school student did a microwave-related study for a science fair. Here results were posted by her grandmother here:
I was intrigued. I decided to replicate the science fair project. I have much less patience, however, than a student preparing for a science fair. I took a much quicker path to determine if microwaved water supports life: I sprouted sunflower seeds.
I used four waters: boiled, warmed tap, warmed distilled, and heated microwaved water. (Why all the waters? Why not.) I cooled them all to about 105º Fahrenheit and soaked ¼ cup of sunflower seeds in each for eight hours. I left the remaining water out at room temperature and used it to rinse the sprouts. After the eight-hour soak I drained the seeds, put each of the four samples in a mason jar, and let them sprout. I rinsed the seeds about every twelve hours with their respective room-temperature water.
Yes, I realize the sloppiness in the design elements. But I figure it would be like the pregnancy test I took with Frederick: the first one I gave a passing glance and went back to sleep. When I noticed a line two hours later, I took another test. I was not sure that I administered it properly, so I did another and another until my administration of the test might as well have been for an Olympic trial. Then I went to the hospital for a real test. So you can fix sloppiness with later trials if you find a reason to do so.
I found no reason to do another test. All seed samples sprouted nicely. In the picture below, the microwaved sprouts are on the left and the warmed tap sample are on the right.
As the microwaved sprouts were coming along, I wondered why the science project results would have turned out as they did.
"Mom, do you think she microwaved the water in plastic?"
"Yes, of course. Everyone does."
"Really?"
I am so microwave ignorant that I could not imagine microwaving in anything but glass. And as it was I had to walk into a neighboring house to get our microwaved water sample.
Notice on the science fair site that she has updated it with information that the water was microwaved in plastic.
I see another sprout experiment in our future.
