Is microwaving bad?

Good bad, or indifferent, I still want to hug the guy that invented it. For pre-planning my meals and enjoying hot food at work, it is a must and I am okay with that. This is a hot button topic for some, and I am sure there will be some debate about it.

It's not bad. It just produces heat in a more efficient way that traditional cooking. It doesn't make food toxic or radio-active or anything like that.

Deathboxes rule.

not so good... kills the nutrients in your food.

(edit to give examples)

fresh veggies cooked the night before, yay - so yummy the next day... microwave, nutrients gone. it's like taking it and sucking everything good to eat empty calories.

Microwaved vegetables have more nutrients than boiled or steamed.

Some nutrients do break down when they’re exposed to heat, whether it is from a microwave or a regular oven. Vitamin C is perhaps the clearest example. So, as a general proposition, cooking with a microwave probably does a better job of preserving the nutrient content of foods because the cooking times are shorter.

As far as vegetables go, it’s cooking them in water that robs them of some of their nutritional value because the nutrients leach out into the cooking water. For example, boiled broccoli loses glucosinolate, the sulfur-containing compound that may give the vegetable its cancer-fighting properties as well as the taste that many find distinctive and some, disgusting. The nutrient-rich water from boiled vegetables can be salvaged and incorporated into sauces or soups.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/Microwave-cooking-and-nutrition.shtml

not so good... kills the nutrients in your food.

(edit to give examples)

fresh veggies cooked the night before, yay - so yummy the next day... microwave, nutrients gone. it's like taking it and sucking everything good to eat empty calories.

Not, it is quite the opposite:

The Claim: Microwave Ovens Kill Nutrients in Food


By ANAHAD O’CONNOR

THE FACTS They are a staple in kitchens everywhere, but for about as long as microwave ovens have been around, people have suspected that the radiation they emit can destroy nutrients in food and vegetables.

According to most studies, however, the reality is quite the opposite. Every cooking method can destroy vitamins and other nutrients in food. The factors that determine the extent are how long the food is cooked, how much liquid is used and the cooking temperature.

Since microwave ovens often use less heat than conventional methods and involve shorter cooking times, they generally have the least destructive effects. The most heat-sensitive nutrients are water-soluble vitamins, like folic acid and vitamins B and C, which are common in vegetables.

In studies at Cornell University, scientists looked at the effects of cooking on water-soluble vitamins in vegetables and found that spinach retained nearly all its folate when cooked in a microwave, but lost about 77 percent when cooked on a stove.

They also found that bacon cooked by microwave has significantly lower levels of cancer-causing nitrosamines than conventionally cooked bacon.

When it comes to vegetables, adding water can greatly accelerate the loss of nutrients. One study published in The Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture in 2003 found that broccoli cooked by microwave — and immersed in water — loses about 74 percent to 97 percent of its antioxidants. When steamed or cooked without water, the broccoli retained most of its nutrients.

THE BOTTOM LINE Microwave ovens generally do not destroy nutrients in food.

scitimes@nytimes.com

Don' microwave in anything plastic (esp. if it's not BPA free) or with saran wrap. Carcinogens are released into your food.

Just don't put your head inside....

But seriously, some people need to stop thinking so much.... I suppose this would go along with "cell phones give you cancer"....

We all gotta die from somethin' :drinker:

Haha.... THIS^

It might be. But I microwave everything from my coffee to my bacon. (Okay, not my bacon. Most days. Sometimes. Probably more than I should.) I can't imagine life without my microwave. It's my greatest time-saver.

Microwaving is the best way to steam veggies. Less cook time = more nutrients preserved.