Is microwave cooking safe?

[Proton Soup]

Yes, I know that's what you are claiming. What I am saying is that your post doesn't really help you much with that claim.
Substantive means relevant and substantial. What you provided is just really really thin. My link certainly had more overall relevance than yours because it is broader and it points directly to a particular flaw in your information! The B12 study talks only about one vitamin and only about microwaving. But if "cooking" (methods not specified) can reduce B12 by up to 50%, well then the study that says microwave cooking reduces it by 30-35% in a particular test is completely useless for addressing the claim that microwave cooking reduces nutrition more than other methods, isn't it? As mhselp said, it needs to compare microwaving to other methods to have any value at all.

Your first study is perhaps more useful, but it doesn't say how much difference it noted between the cooking methods and what is done to cholesterol is just one small piece of the puzzle. Obviously, meat is always cooked, but what is probably a bigger issue is nutrients lost in veggies and the differences in losses can be huge, not to mention the difference between cooking and eating them raw! And I don't know anyone who would cook a hamburger in a microwave anyway. If nothing else, cooking on a grill lets fat drain away from it.

My point here is that characterizing this as an issue specific to microwave ovens just isn't realistic and your links just aren't that useful or compelling.

you are right in that there is no point of comparison for b12 and that there lacks magnitude info on the other. i'll have to see if i can find more, but it's not an easy topic to dig up info on.

 

[russ_watters]

More: http://www.ehow.com/about_5415255_nutritional-food-cooked-microwave-oven.html

The FDA further states that microwave cooking does not reduce the nutritional value of foods compared with traditional cooking methods.....

All foods change, no matter the method used in preparation. In fact, the FDA states that some foods might have greater retention of their nutrients when cooked in a microwave oven because of rapid heating. Traditional cooking methods require water, which absorb some of the nutrients and require longer cooking times. Taking great care to follow cooking times and instructions, as with traditional cooking, reduces the risk of draining food of its nutrients.

Cooking any food in any manner reduces its nutritional value in some way. The only way to retain foods nutritional integrity is to not cook it at all. And even then, if you remove any peelings or outer skin, such as peeling a potato, you are reducing its value of nutrition because the majority of nutrients are in the skin of many fruits and vegetables.

 

[Proton Soup]

apparently, it's not a huge difference. still, i avoid fatty meats that are microwaved. it does something to the meat that just makes it taste disgusting. i'll be trusting my body on this one.

http://apjcn.nhri.org.tw/server/APJCN/Volume11/vol11.1/Savage.pdf [Broken]

 

[chroot]

apparently, it's not a huge difference. still, i avoid fatty meats that are microwaved. it does something to the meat that just makes it taste disgusting. i'll be trusting my body on this one.

No one said microwaved food tastes good. It's usually nasty... but not dangerous.

- Warren

 

[russ_watters]

No one said microwaved food tastes good. It's usually nasty... but not dangerous.

- Warren

And whether I heat my Hot Pockets in the microwave or in a toaster oven is a secondary issue to why I am eating disgusting sacks of fat in the first place!

 

[chroot]

Actually, on an unrelated note, microwave oven really only shines is when it is used in one way. It's very common for a cook to have several dishes (cooked with traditional cooking methods) that come together at slightly different times, yet need to be heated to the same temperature immediately before being served. The microwave is great for just adding a touch of heat to a finished dish while leaving the plates room temperature. Many, many restaurants nuke their finished plates for 15 seconds right before serving them.

- Warren

 

[Proton Soup]

No one said microwaved food tastes good. It's usually nasty... but not dangerous.

- Warren

maybe. i'm going to keep an open mind about it. even this ability to do accurate oxysterol testing is relatively new from what i've read.

and maybe i'm a nut, but i won't eat that prepackaged walmart meat, either. how meat that tastes like burnt hair and cheese can be good for you is a mystery to me. :uhh:

 

[chroot]

Well, strictly speaking, no meat is really considered 'good for you' at all, except maybe fish.

- Warren

 

[Proton Soup]

Well, strictly speaking, no meat is really considered 'good for you' at all, except maybe fish.

- Warren

eh, i dunno about that. i think most of the studies condemning meat haven't really considered lean red meat, which is incredibly nutritious.

but fish is certainly awesome. maybe awesome enough to think that humans might be natural piscivores...

 

[Pythagorean]

I watched an evolutionary documentary that claimed our brains got bigger and began to utilize strategy once we started eating meat because it provided the energy necessary for higher brain functions. I believe it was nova. A Baldwin was hosting it.

edit: it was "walking with caveme"