Does microwaving food pose health risks or dangers?

[student_]

on the net there seems to be arguments both ways for whether or not microwave oven poses danger to health.

So who do i believe?

Are there any credible institutions, reserch papers, committees etc. that have discussed this?

if so, please let me know

regards

 

[Evo]

on the net there seems to be arguments both ways for whether or not microwave oven poses danger to health.

So who do i believe?

Are there any credible institutions, reserch papers, committees etc. that have discussed this?

if so, please let me know

regards

Under normal use, no, there are no issues. The internet is full of idiotic conspiracy theories, false information, crackpot sites with crackpot information.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/microwave_ovens_and_food_safety/index.asp

 

[Danger]

The trick is to not turn one on while you are in it.

By the bye... I object to your use of the word "dangers" (plural); there is only one of me, and while I've been known to haunt some pretty bizarre places, none of them have been ovens of any sort.

 

[PAllen]

could be dangerous if you wrap your food in aluminum foil.

 

[edward]

Ten good rules on microwaving food. Some of the plastic containers can get toxic.

http://sneakykitchen.com/Ten_commandments/microwave_safety.htm

 

[256bits]

on the net there seems to be arguments both ways for whether or not microwave oven poses danger to health.

well, if you live on the 10th floor and throw your microwave out the window, yes, then it could be hazardous to the health of someone down below on the ground.

 

[Danger]

Ten good rules on microwaving food. Some of the plastic containers can get toxic.

http://sneakykitchen.com/Ten_commandments/microwave_safety.htm

Bottom line being: Don't nuke your condoms before use. They won't work properly. Also, don't nuke them after use, because nobody on the face of the planet would want to clean up the resultant mess.

 

[wuliheron]

Microwaves can cause pace makers to malfunction.

 

[Danger]

Microwaves can cause pace makers to malfunction.

That is Nature's way, through technology, to counteract the population explosion that would have occurred due to Technology's understandable exploitation of lesser species.

 

[DoggerDan]

Ok, the previous responses have been duly noted.

Microwave ovens have been in use since the 1905s. They've withstood massive amounts of scrutiny from all countries, and no evidence has been found to say they're unsafe.

Nuke away.

 

[ArcanaNoir]

could be dangerous if you wrap your food in aluminum foil.

Are you implying the foil will taint the food in some way, or are you revering to the dangers of microwaving metal related to sparks, oven damage, etc? My microwave oven manual actually recommends using aluminum foil in the microwave in specific ways (shape is very important), so if done correctly, no sparks. Of course, I'd be terrified to actually try it.

 

[PAllen]

Are you implying the foil will taint the food in some way, or are you revering to the dangers of microwaving metal related to sparks, oven damage, etc? My microwave oven manual actually recommends using aluminum foil in the microwave in specific ways (shape is very important), so if done correctly, no sparks. Of course, I'd be terrified to actually try it.

I said wrap, as in all over the food. It was mostly a joke for anyone who has seen arcing in microwaver - you would have mega-arcing.

Yes, I have seen older microwaves talking about carefully covering corners of some foods with foil. I actually tried it a few times, and it was difficult to arrange so as not to arc.

 

[Chi Meson]

Microwaves can cause pace makers to malfunction.

Is it still the 70's? If there is still a person with the pacemaker that would be flummoxed by a kitchen microwave, that person needs to sue their doctors. You will still see some signs of warning about "Microwave in use," but they are on the same level as "No Cell Phones" at a gas station.

 

[wuliheron]

Is it still the 70's? If there is still a person with the pacemaker that would be flummoxed by a kitchen microwave, that person needs to sue their doctors. You will still see some signs of warning about "Microwave in use," but they are on the same level as "No Cell Phones" at a gas station.

Its rare, but it can still occur. I'd say things like driving and smoking and drinking (especially if you do them all at once) is infinitely more hazardous to your health, but the op just asked if there are any health risks.

 

[AlephZero]

If you knew somebody personally who was killed by a microwave (either by using it, or because it fell from the top of a tall building), then worry.

Otherwise, don't.

 

[Chi Meson]

Its rare, but it can still occur. I'd say things like driving and smoking and drinking (especially if you do them all at once) is infinitely more hazardous to your health, but the op just asked if there are any health risks.

My father has had a pacemaker since the late 80s. He's actually on his third kind. Every doctor he has talked to regarding his pacemaker (dozens of them by now) has put the "microwave" warning down to the level of "urban myth." Cell-phones will have more of an effect, which is why he was told to not put his cell phone in his breast-pocket; should he ever get one, which at this point is doubtful.

 

[Danger]

Microwave ovens have been in use since the 1905s.

You figure...?
I'm pretty sure that the first microwave oven on the market was Raytheon's "Radar Range" in 1947, inspired by the work of Sir Arthur Clarke and friends who invented radar to warn about buzz bombs and Messerschmitts trying to sneak across the Channel.

Or were your typing fingers temporarily dyslexic and you meant "1950s"?

 

[wuliheron]

My father has had a pacemaker since the late 80s. He's actually on his third kind. Every doctor he has talked to regarding his pacemaker (dozens of them by now) has put the "microwave" warning down to the level of "urban myth." Cell-phones will have more of an effect, which is why he was told to not put his cell phone in his breast-pocket; should he ever get one, which at this point is doubtful.

I'd say its almost an urban myth. Right up there with the odds of getting hit by lightning seven times which has happened, but is about as unlikely as it gets.

 

[AlephZero]

Microwave ovens have been in use since the 1905s.

I'm with Danger on this one. Practical magnetrons were first used for radar in WWII, and that's the same technology as the first microwave ovens. There are stories of some of the "boffins" in the UK using their test rigs for cooking.

The very first vacuum tube electronic devices weren't invented until 1906-7.

 

[Danger]

I'm pretty sure that it was a transpositional typo on Dan's part. (The other Dan, that is. The evil Dan. Not me. I'm the sweet and loveable, although heavily armed and easily irritated, Dan. He is the evil one, which is not necessarily a bad thing...)
Hmppphhh... Okay, I'm going home now.

 

[Proton Soup]

i've found that microwaving is a lot less noxious when you don't use the time machine function. when you dial the power down so that all time advantages versus conventional heat are lost, you get a lot less scorched protoplasm in the mix.

 

[student_]

for those who say that microwave is safe for health, I would like to receive your response to the following:

In Comparative Study of Food Prepared Conventionally and in the Microwave Oven, published by Raum & Zelt in 1992, at 3(2): 43, it states:
“A basic hypothesis of natural medicine states that the introduction into the human body of molecules and energies, to which it is not accustomed, is much more likely to cause harm than good. Microwaved food contains both molecules and energies not present in food cooked in the way humans have been cooking food since the discovery of fire. Microwave energy from the sun and other stars is direct current based. Artificially produced microwaves, including those in ovens, are produced from alternating current and force a billion or more polarity reversals per second in every food molecule they hit. Production of unnatural molecules is inevitable. Naturally occurring amino acids have been observed to undergo isomeric changes (changes in shape morphing) as well as transformation into toxic forms, under the impact of microwaves produced in ovens.”

 

[Evo]

for those who say that microwave is safe for health, I would like to receive your response to the following:

In Comparative Study of Food Prepared Conventionally and in the Microwave Oven, published by Raum & Zelt in 1992, at 3(2): 43, it states:
“A basic hypothesis of natural medicine states that the introduction into the human body of molecules and energies, to which it is not accustomed, is much more likely to cause harm than good. Microwaved food contains both molecules and energies not present in food cooked in the way humans have been cooking food since the discovery of fire. Microwave energy from the sun and other stars is direct current based. Artificially produced microwaves, including those in ovens, are produced from alternating current and force a billion or more polarity reversals per second in every food molecule they hit. Production of unnatural molecules is inevitable. Naturally occurring amino acids have been observed to undergo isomeric changes (changes in shape morphing) as well as transformation into toxic forms, under the impact of microwaves produced in ovens.”

We have rules against pushing crackpotery here. Please provide the accepted peer reviewed journal link where this *study* was published, I can only find it referenced on crackpot sites.

 

[PAllen]

for those who say that microwave is safe for health, I would like to receive your response to the following:

In Comparative Study of Food Prepared Conventionally and in the Microwave Oven, published by Raum & Zelt in 1992, at 3(2): 43, it states:
“A basic hypothesis of natural medicine states that the introduction into the human body of molecules and energies, to which it is not accustomed, is much more likely to cause harm than good. Microwaved food contains both molecules and energies not present in food cooked in the way humans have been cooking food since the discovery of fire. Microwave energy from the sun and other stars is direct current based. Artificially produced microwaves, including those in ovens, are produced from alternating current and force a billion or more polarity reversals per second in every food molecule they hit. Production of unnatural molecules is inevitable. Naturally occurring amino acids have been observed to undergo isomeric changes (changes in shape morphing) as well as transformation into toxic forms, under the impact of microwaves produced in ovens.”

This is certainly crackpottery, never to be found in a reputable journey. The following is a short list of absurdities:

1) Direct current/ alternating current microwaves. Microwaves are microwaves. Total aburdity.

2) Food contain 'energies'. Total nonsense.

3) Fire safe in terms of molecular change? Ha (though I love and will never abandon grilled food). While no peer reviewed study I've heard of has found dangerous molecules produced by microwaves during ordinary use (though it is theoretically conceivable), it is now a well established fact that ye old backyard grill produces numerous carcinogens.

I would say this goes beyond ignorance to fraud.

 

[Evo]

This is certainly crackpottery, never to be found in a reputable journey. The following is a short list of absurdities:

1) Direct current/ alternating current microwaves. Microwaves are microwaves. Total aburdity.

2) Food contain 'energies'. Total nonsense.

3) Fire safe in terms of molecular change? Ha (though I love and will never abandon grilled food). While no peer reviewed study I've heard of has found dangerous molecules produced by microwaves during ordinary use (though it is theoretically conceivable), it is now a well established fact that ye old backyard grill produces numerous carcinogens.

I would say this goes beyond ignorance to fraud.

Yep.

Last time, I talked about how microwave ovens work. The principle is just a different pathway to the same result - apply heat. But thanks to some very poor science, many people wrongly believe that cooking food in your kitchen "nuker" will not only destroy the nutritional goodness in your food, but will also mutate the previously-benign nutrients into cancer-causing chemicals.
Many websites have jumped on the bandwagon, and make even wilder claims about microwaved food such as "causes long-term permanent brain damage by shorting out electrical impulses in the brain" and "minerals, vitamins and nutrient of all microwaved food is reduced or altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit". They use pseudo-scientific gibberish such as "a degeneration and destabilisation of the external energy activated potentials of food utilization within the process of human metabolism".
In the literature that claims that microwaved food is depleted in nutrients and/or is full of carcinogenic chemicals, two studies are continually quoted. The first is from the December 9, 1989 issue of Lancet, while the second is that of Hertel and Blanc in Switzerland.

The second study (Comparative Study of Food Prepared Conventionally and in the Microwave Oven, published by Raum & Zelt in 1992) looked at levels of various chemicals and cells in the blood of volunteers who ate microwaved food. The study was published in a certain Franz Weber's magazine, modestly called Journal Franz Weber (Issue 19, January-March 1992), which is definitely not a peer-reviewed journal. If it had been, it might have noticed that there were only eight volunteers - which is such a small number, that it's impossible to get any statistically significant results. Furthermore, none of the blood analysis results fell out of the normal range of variation. Indeed, the volunteers, who all ate macrobiotic food, came to the study with a low-grade anaemia. Regardless of this, the study came to the conclusion that "… microwave ovens are more harmful than the Dachau gas chambers…" and "… it is certain that you will die from cancer …".

more...

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2006/03/23/1597903.htm