The Claim: Microwave Ovens Kill Nutrients in Food

[Nancy LC]

I think the biggest thing that'll killed Dr. Mercola's credibility in my eyes was this assertion, that Microwaves ovens were harmful. http://www.mercola.com/article/microwave/hazards.htm

Research about microwaves and nutrients in food (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/health/17real.html?ex=1318737600&en=e2214c51b11b2409&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss)

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.

[bluesmoke]

Mercola has said so many absurd things that it would be hard for me to pick out the silliest. If he gets anything right I tend to think of it as the blind squirrel getting an acorn. Nyah Levi

[Abd]

I think the biggest thing that'll killed Dr. Mercola's credibility in my eyes was this assertion, that Microwaves ovens were harmful. http://www.mercola.com/article/microwave/hazards.htm

Well, a case can be made that cooking is harmful. And, of course, there are benefits to it as well. Mercola's article on microwaves, at the URL above, betrays that, as far as the physics of how microwave ovens work and what microwaves are, he doesn't understand the topic. He writes a lot of complete nonsense about AC and DC, claiming that microwaves from the sun are DC, "direct current."

That he doesn't know his AC from his DC doesn't mean that microwave ovens are safe.... But I wouldn't take his word for it, and some of the "research" he quotes is pretty goofy.

[ItsTheWooo]

He is a quack.

Anything he gets right he copied from someone with a concept of science;
everything pure mercola is less credible and useful than astrology (at least, in astrology, it can be used as a sort of psychological tool, like a rorschach; see what you need/want to see, aid in coming to analysis of problems etc).

[LilithD]

I've given up on Mercola. At the start of my Low carb WOE, some of the articles on grains and fats from his site were helpful, but as you guys have said, he's a quack. Sad, actually, putting pro-fat eating into disrepute.

[probiotic]

I have seen several studies (links not handy) that certain vitamins in vegetables are killed by microwave cooking especially, boiling less so, steaming much less so, and of course raw not at all. But the claims about microwaved food being a form of cancer-causing frankenfood, I find far shadier. It is pretty much impossible, in any case, to enjoy hot LC meals at an office or on the road without the trusty microwave, so I see the benefits worth the tradeoff.

[ReginaW]

I have seen several studies (links not handy) that certain vitamins in vegetables are killed by microwave cooking especially, boiling less so, steaming much less so, and of course raw not at all. But the claims about microwaved food being a form of cancer-causing frankenfood, I find far shadier. It is pretty much impossible, in any case, to enjoy hot LC meals at an office or on the road without the trusty microwave, so I see the benefits worth the tradeoff.

The only difference I've been able to find, that might be cause for concern if one consumes a lot of food that is microwaved, is the digestibility of the protein and/or starch within the food cooked in a microwave. In a study back in 2004 - Nutritional quality of microwave-cooked and pressure-cooked legumes (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=15762308&query_hl=8&itool=pubmed_docsum) - investigating nutrient quality of beans cooked in a microwave or pressure cooker, the researchers noted that The mean in vitro protein digestibility of pressure-cooked and microwaved samples was 79.8% and 74.7%, respectively. The in vitro starch and protein digestibility of pressure-cooked samples were higher.

It only looked at beans and not other protein containing foods though - so you can't extrapolate the finding to something like meat or eggs or cheese.....and it is noteworthy that digestibility of protein was affected by pressure cooking too, just to a lesser degree than microwaving.

Personally, I do use a microwave occassionally to re-heat foods....one thing I do try to avoid is using plastics in the microwave - I am concerned they do leech residue (potentially) into the food, so I use glass dishes instead :)

[Nancy LC]

I have seen several studies (links not handy) that certain vitamins in vegetables are killed by microwave cooking especially, boiling less so, steaming much less so, and of course raw not at all.
But these findings, and others I've run across, seem to contradict that. You'll lose less vitamins using the microwave.

Also, if you're eating raw veggies, you might also not be getting as much nutrition as you may think. Cooking breaks down plant cell walls better than just chewing, making those vitamins more accessible.

[Mr. McD]

I looked into this several years ago. I have seen some studies that suggest some nutrient loss in some foods that are cooked with microwaves. I have seen some studies suggest nutrients were improved by cooking with microwaves. I never found anything to convince me to toss my microwave.


I never take scientific studies at face value; it is good to know the source of the funding.

[bsenka]

Cooking of all types degrades nutrients to some degree. So what? 80% of the nutrients in my lunch at work is better than none of them.

Mercola is a nut, always has been.

[Angeline]

I haven't had a microwave for 3 years, and there hasn't been one instance where I thought "Damn, I wish I had a microwave". Everything can be warmed up well enough in my toaster-oven or on the stove top. It just takes a little bit longer.

I don't like what the microwave does to meat anyway, even just to reheat it. It changes the taste and the texture.

[KvonM]

ugh... i got halfway through the article and gave up. the guy's definetely got a few screws too tight.

we don't have a microwave either... even when i had one, the only thing i really used it for was heating frozen veggies or defrosting meat (and i prefer the hot-water method for that). my fiance had an old one that he thought was just fine, but i made him leave it behind and i haven't regretted it one bit.

[Nancy LC]

Too be more fair than is necessary, that article is on Mercola's site, but I don't think he wrote it.

My microwave is my most used appliance next to the fridge.

[WesleyT]

mercola is an idiot imo

[liddie01]

I mainly use mine to defrost things to cook for dinner, because i never know if I'll be eating at home, or invited out, and that way I can cook up whatever meat I am hungry for that evening.