Is microwaving food safe for health?

From maintaining safe distance to refraining from microwave-cooked food consumption, here are a few tips suggested by expert.

With the advent of technology, we try to bring down manual work with several uses of it. The microwave is one such hack which helps in warming the food items without any kind of manual labour. Ideally, microwaving food involves placing the food inside the electrical equipment, which then helps in warming the food and making it ready for consumption within minutes. However, is it safe to consume microwaved food items? Nutritionist Anjali Mukerjee addressed the health threats that microwaved food items possess and wrote, “Microwave ovens, generate alternating currents, similar to the radiation emitted by cell phones and computers. These radiations penetrate through and cause food molecules to vibrate, (billions of times each second) leading to frictional heat, thus effectively cooking the food from the inside out.”

Pointing out the health issues, Anjali Mukerjee added that molecular level vibrations emitted by the microwaves help in the formation of carcinogens in meat and milk – thereby causing major damage to the nutrients present in the food items. This modern approach of warming food also destroys the vitamin and the mineral content present in the food items. However, there are a few tips which can help in microwaving foods:

Moderation: In case of convenience, Anjali Mukerjee suggested that we microwave the food items, but the practice should be done in moderation. We can use it for warming foods but should avoid cooking in it.

2 feet away: Once the microwave is in use, we must maintain a safe distance of at least 2 feet from the appliance.

Limit consumption: We must refrain from consumption of microwave-cooked food items as it tends to change the molecular structure of the food.

She further added that even though moderate use of microwaves can be done, we must stick to the conventional methods of cooking if we want to get maximum nutrient value of the food items.