Microwave cooking (from the point of view of macrobiotics)

[Michael]

MICROWAVE COOKING (from
http://www.macrobiotics.nl/encyclopedia ... #microwave)

Ninety percent of modern households have microwave
ovens. Microwave ovens vibrate at over 2 million
cycles per second (compared to 60 cycles for electric
stoves), and that intense vibration can affect the
cellular integrity of the food as well as be absorbed
by those who eat it. Salmonella bacteria—a main
cause of food poisoning—have been found to
survive in cold spots that do not fully cook.
While there have been no comprehensive studies of the
effects of microwave cooking on human health, it is
generally avoided in the natural foods and holistic
communities.

• Microwaved Foods Alters Blood Chemistry,
Decreases Nutrients, and Produces Precancerous Effects
- In a study of eight people eating macrobiotically,
researchers at the Swiss Institute of Technology and
the University Institute for Biochemistry and the
Environmental-Biological Research and Consultation
reported that microwaved food produced major changes
in the subjects’ blood and immune function.
These included a decrease in hemoglobin (red blood
cells that carry oxygen and take out carbon dioxide);
an increase in hemotocrit (the percentage of red blood
cells in the blood) and leukocytes (associated with
fighting infection); higher cholesterol, and a
decrease in lymphocytes (a type of cell made in the
lymph nodes that counters disease).
In addition to altering blood chemistry, the
researchers found that microwaved food appeared to
increase the activity of certain bacteria in the food,
and altered cells resembled the pathogenic stages that
occur in the early development of some cancers. The
scientists also reported biological changes in the
microwaved food itself, including increased acidity,
damaged protein molecules, enlarged fat cells, and
decreased folic acid, a nutrient in the vitamin B
group associated with protecting against spina bifida,
a birth defect.
Source: Bernard H. Blanc and Hans U. Hertel,
“Influence on Man: Comparative Study About Food
Prepared Conventionally and in the Microwave
Oven,” Raum & Zeit, 3(2): 1992.

• Microwave Cooking Produces Immunological and
Neurotoxic Effects - In studies of the effect of
microwave cooking on the amino acids in milk, Austrian
scientists reported that heating milk formulae
altered the chemical structure of the milk. “The
conversion of trans to cis forms could be hazardous
because when cis-amino acids are incorporated into
peptides and proteins instead of their trans isomers
this can lead to structural, functional, and
immunological changes,” the researchers
concluded. One compound, moreover, L-proline was
converted to D-proline, which is neurotoxic.
Source: G. Lubec et al., “Aminoacid
Isomerisation and Microwave Exposure,” Lancet
2(8676):1392-93, 1989.

• Microwaving Weakens Breast Milk - Collecting,
freezing, and reheating breast milk is standard
practice in most neonatal care units in the U.S.
today. Researchers from Stanford University School of
Medicine reported that when reheated in a microwave
oven, human breast milk loses some of its abilities to
fight infection. Microwaving weakened antibodies and
proteins that inhibit bacterial growth and help the
infant ward off infection.
The California scientists further found that
microwaved cow’s milk grew E. coli
bacteria—associated with food poisoning—18
times more than regular milk. At low temperatures, it
grew the bacteria five times faster.
Source: “Microwaving Breast Milk, Microwave
News, May/June 1992, p. 14.

• Microwave Packaging Carcinogenic - The
chemicals used in microwave packaging can migrate into
food but the FDA has declined to regulate them. Heat
susceptor packaging, as this material is known,
commonly contains dimethyl terephthalate, a suspected
carcinogen, and is commonly used for microwaved
popcorn, pizza, french fries, fish sticks, and Belgian
waffles.
Source: David Steinman and Samuel S. Epstein, M.D.,
Safe Shopper’s Bible (New York: Macmillan,
1995).

• Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Microwaved Food
- Public Health researchers in the U.K. reported a
case of salmonella food poisoning in six persons
following consumption of microwaved cooked food. The
food consisted of a savory dish consisting of boiled
rice, raw carrots, eggs, cheese, and curry powder. In
a subsequent study, British researchers reported that
Salmonellae survived after microwaving poached eggs if
the yolk was soft.
Sources: M. R. Evans et al., “Salmonella
Outbreak from Microwave Cooked Food,”
Epidemiological Infect 115(2):227-20, 1995; C. J.
Bates, “Survival of Salmonella Species in Eggs
Poached Using a Microwave Oven,” Journal of
Hospital Infections 29(2):121-27, 1995.
--- Irene de Villiers wrote:
___________________________________________________________
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[Irene de Villiers]

Michael wrote:

Ovens do not vibrate - the particles they heat are vibrated.
Like rubbing your hands together - it generates heat.

(compared to 60 cycles for electric

Any heat changes the "cellular integrity".
Microwave heat does it faster so you take less time.
No.
Not possible.

Namaste,
IRene
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."

[Hennie Duits]

What makes me suspicious is that I’m told that quick and easy (preparing
of food) (microwave) is just as good as slow and careful. I think people
should reject this as a realistic possibility. It’s a bit like saying
that watching a movie, listening ot a CD or talking to someone on the
phone is identical to seeing a play or listening to a concert, on stage,
or meeting someone in person. It’s not. And the missing qualities
probably cannot be determined in a laboratory.

Hennie

Irene de Villiers schreef:

[ForumGal]

Google microwave danger and you'll get almost 2 million sites. Here's from one:

http://www.mercola.com/article/microwave/hazards.htm
. . . 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. . .

Best, Margaret in Boston
**************************************
See what's new at http://www.aol.com

[Irene de Villiers]

Hennie Duits wrote:

In what way do you see your analogies as relevant?
I sure do not.

Let's rather be logical here:
Look at what actually happens:
Microwave cooking heats food. So does stove top cooking and oven
cooking. But each has techniques that must be followed:
If you use an oven, you need nontoxic cookware that does not leach
components into the food as the cookware is heated.
IF you use stove top you need to stir or you get burnt offerings on the
bottom.
If you use a microwave you need cookware minus toxic ingredients and
ALSO minus heavy metals. (Microwaves heat heavy metals fast as they heat
all metals fast. So your risk of say lead in the food from stoneware
used in the mixcrowave is WAY higher than the risk of lead leaching in a
regular oven - though there is risk with both.
Understanding the heating process tells you what to avoid with eacgh
process.

So set aside the old wives tales (all disproved if you bother to
investigate, as you saw for one on Snopes), and look and think about
what heating method is used in each case and the consequences of it.

You can make a real mess of the food in ANY heating method, if you do
not use the right techniques for the method, and microwave cooking is no
exception. For example you need to take into account that microwaves
ionly cook evenly if the penetration depth is equal in the food. Thus
the ideal microwave food shape is do-nut shape - arrange things in equal
sizes in a circle. Unless you want to have some things cook more than
others - then arrange them accordingly. For example if you are doing a
roast beef and vegetables, you'd do the beef for 10 mins first and make
it a more or less spherical shape - no corners to overcook (unless some
guests want well done and others rare), turn it over and add the veg
with potato on the outside and peas/beans etc that cook fast, on the
inside of your cooking bowl - and ten mins later you'll have a perfect
roast and veg, with no water to drain off nutrients and no overcooking
to spoil anything.
OF course you will have used microwave-specific cookware, such as
microwave cooking bags for the meat and each vegetable individually.

Unless: Maybe you are in USA - then the chances are good you won't know
what I am talking about regarding microwave-specific cookware, and will
likely use any old plastic or lead-containing stoneware that leaches
toxins, to cook in your microwave - and you will blame the "microwaves"
for putting toxins in your food. Or for cooking it unevenly. Right?
))
Nutrients are retained way better in microwave cooking than in any
method that heats the food for longer. Many vitamins for example are
damaged more the longer they are heated.
This is not news - food analysis has been around a long time to show this.

If you want to wreck the food by OVER-cooking it (in a microwave or
anywhere else - but it it easy to do in a microwave) then don't blame
the "microwaves" or the hotplate! Blame the person who set the timer
wrongly or who arranged the food in inappropriate ways for even heating.
Do you eat food burnt onto the bottom of a pot? Probably not? And you
should also not eat food overcooked in other ways such as
microwave-cooked too long.
There are suitable techniques for every cooking method - and one needs
to know them and use them to get the best of the method.
But don't blame results from ignorance of the method on the method
itself:-))

That's like blaming a nail hammered in skew, on the hammer. It's the
operator who needs to know what they are about:-)
For a hammer or a microwave.

ALL the silly stories touted here and elsewhere about microwaves
supposedly doing something unwanted, conveniently exclude all the
necessary techniques they used (since they obviously did not know they
were relevant or they'd mention cookware used, shape of container,
cooking time etc) and this all shows that it is the operator and not the
microwave oven much less the microwaves, that is causing any problems.

Namaste,
Irene

--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."

[Irene de Villiers]

ForumGal@aol.com wrote:
sites.

As with anything else people know little about - but that does not make
the "sites" a good source of information! One has to discriminate about
what to believe on the internet:-) The SOURCE of info matters.
Mercola knows his microwave "information" is incorrect:-) It's not HIS
research - he just put stuff there without checking validity.
How about some real research? Do people not value that these days?

Namaste,
Irene
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."

[Hennie Duits]

Hm, it seems that you are either missing or avoiding the point that I
was trying to make. If you feel that the effects of electrical heating
of food are identical to heating with, if you will, natural combustion,
be my guest, but I beg to differ.
To me, flames and electrical currents, even if they contain the same net
amount of energy, are different by nature, and so will have different
effects. What goes through the power lines lacks the nature, properties,
identity, if you will, of flames. Burning wood is different, in all
major respects, from burning petrol, even if it produces the same amount
of ‘plain energy’. There is no such thing as ‘just energy’. The energy
from the sun is vastly different from an enormous amount of camp fires.
Each form of energy has it’s own characteristics, and I’d say it would
be foolish to assume that transforming one form of energy into another
would go without consequences.
It seems to me that the microwave is applying an extreme form of
electrical energy, and we should realise that we know next to nothing,
really, about the true nature, or true effects, of electrical energy on
just about everything. We’ll see.

Hennie
Irene de Villiers schreef:

[Irene de Villiers]

Hennie Duits wrote:

Except it is not electrical energy - it is microwave energy, of a
similar wavelength to that used by your TV.

If you can show in some way that microwave energy has done anything
oddball to the food - then you will have done something nobody else has
done despite trying, so far.
I prefer cooking over a wood fire - but that does more than apply
heat - it applies some aroma and chemical components of the wood.
As I said before - the techniques of each method are relevant - and I'd
say that in wood cooking it's relevant how toxic the wood is - or
whether it adds flavour.

The energy aspect however is not so variable as you claim - the "law of
conservation of energy" has not had exceptions proved to date to my
knowledge.
If you say so.
But microwave cooking uses microwaves not electrons:-)
You might be able to make a microwave oven that uses some other form of
input energy to produce the microwave energy, instead of electricity.

I had a little fridge for example that could be run on electricity or
kerosene or a few other options too. Which source was used, made no
difference to the food being kept cold - the food was cold either way.

In microwave cooking - only the heating matters, not whether the
microwaves to do it are generated from electricity or some other energy
source.

I think you meant to say that microwaves are an unknown entity in terms
of their ability to heat food - but all the evidence is to the contrary.
I'd be alarmed if we used microwaves to heat cold people or any other
live thing - live things should not be cooked!!
But we use them for food heating/cooking and they are not intrinsically
damaging *to food* - it's not like using radioactivity for example.
You can cook using sunshine directly - and although UV rays would be
included and can hurt live people - they can only do so directly and not
via the food that is cooked by them.

So microwaves may indeed damage people - and they DO damage live people
- but there is no evidence that they damage food.

Namaste,
Irene
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."

[Paul Booyse]

Hi hennie,
Look at it logically and scientifically. Microwaves are high energy waves. they cause the molecules to vibrate at high resonance which "heats" them up. Like brownian motion.
Because of the high energy, the cooking time is reduced. Now in chemistry it is known that certain reactions need a critical energy to occur. This is the principle behind enzymes or catalysts. They get reactions to occur at lower energies then usually needed. So at high energy, that means certain reactions that would not normally occur, do. This could include the breakdown of vitamins and other nutrients. Do this experiment yourself. Cook an egg on the stove and put a raw egg on a warm plate (warm so you can still put your hand on it. Notive which egg "cooks" and which doesn't. Even if you keep the plate warm for the whole day, it will never cook like the egg on the stove. The protein denaturing from cooking on the stove needs minimal threshold temperature.
Now i can smeel the difference between an oven cooked dish and one done by microwave. So that also tells me something different is going on. I put to you that the microwave destroys certain nutrients, probably increases trans-fats etc.
regards,
paul
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[Soroush Ebrahimi]

Charcoal grilled, oven grilled, oven roasted, braised, fried etc all smell/taste different.
That does not mean that one is more harmful than the other

Regards

Soroush
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