Will Microwaved Food Kill You
Transcript
If your idea of “cooking up a storm” is a bowl of maggi mee with egg, the microwave oven is probably your BFF.
But there’s a lingering fear whenever we microwave something, because of the bad boy rep it has picked up. “Do vegetables lose their nutrition after being microwaved? Will the radiated food turn me into a less cool version of spiderman?”
To help you sleep better at night, we’ve investigated the most common microwave myths. And don’t worry, it’s mostly good news.
MYTH #1. The Microwave oven will make food and water toxic.
In 2006, a seemingly innocent science fair experiment called out the microwave oven.
Here’s how the story goes. Instead of the trusty ol’ “baking soda” volcano, a little girl decided to test out the properties of microwaved water on some plants.
The results were spooky. The plants that had been given microwaved water supposedly withered into sad, lifeless stumps within 9 days.
The quote-unquote “scientific” conclusion is that the microwave warps the DNA in food, making it toxic to living organisms. Through email and word-of-mouth, the story made it into the hearts and minds of our poor, paranoid mothers.
Thankfully, it’s been proven that the experiment is not legit. Turns out, the photos of the plants in the email had been faked by someone who had way too much time on their hands.
So ladies and gents, the microwave oven isn’t going to suddenly mutate your food and drinks. Feel free to bust this myth at your next family dinner.
MYTH #2. Microwaved food is less nutritious.
Myth number two. The fearsome microwave will kill all the nutrients in your food.
This is just not true. In fact, some microwave-cooked food may even retain more nutrients. Let’s use our greens as an example.
When you boil vegetables, you’re using a bunch of water and heat.
Over time, all the good stuff like Vitamin C and Vitamin B-6 will just dissolve into the boiling water. Now, your body doesn’t naturally produce these vitamins so if you’re boiling your veg, there’s your fitspo life going down the drain.
The next time, try microwaving your vegetables instead. You’ll be saving water as well as your time and energy.
MYTH #3. Microwaved food will give you cancer.
Now time to address the elephant in the room... Will eating microwaved food give you cancer?
You can stop holding your breath, the answer is: No, it won’t. To explain why, we gotta understand HOW the microwave oven even works.
The microwave oven got its name from the teeny tiny radio waves emitted by the machine. These little micro waves transfer their super energy into the food molecules.
TL;DR, microwaves basically cook our food by making the molecules vibrate and generate heat. See, quick and harmless!
Microwaves are only dangerous to humans upon direct contact. So just make sure your microwave does not have any cracks and you’re good to go.
Most of the time, microwave mishaps only happen when people are burnt from hot containers or well… exploding food.
Also, it’s true that microwaves can leak out a bit of radiation. According to the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, you should probably keep a distance of 5cm to be safe.
We’ve all been guilty of this so here’s a reminder: Peeping at your food isn’t going to heat it up any faster. No need to be so kancheong.
The bottom line is that the microwave can still be your BFF. But only if you follow the safety instructions and use microwave safe cookware.
To sum it all up, there’s really nothing to worry about. The consensus is that the microwave oven won’t kill you.
So don’t worry, be happy and enjoy that 7-Eleven ready-made Biryani.