Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: FuzzyUK on 01/01/2007 19:20:31
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Is this propaganda?
http://www.mercola.com/article/microwave/hazards.htm
I don't see me living a life without a microwave cooker.
Cheers,
Fuzzy
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I hope it is and is not true !!
I just heated up a bottle of milk for my boy as I have done for all my children for years and years.....
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I am going to try not to worry too much as I use it very little. To heat something once i a while but not that often!
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My impression is that it is a mixture of a few facts with a lot of misunderstandings/distortions mixed in with it.
heating clean liquids in microwaves can be dangerous, as you can get areas that are much hotter than other areas, to the point that they can be heated above boiling point, but have nowhere for the bobbles to form until you tip them up, add a spoon etc. when it explodes.
You are unlikely to get the problem of baby milk exploding (unless you really overheat it) but I would make sure you give the baby milk a good stir/shake/mix before you check the temperature to even out any hot-spots.
I think these hot-spots can also reduce the vitamin content of the food slightly by overheating bit s of it, but if it is a choice between vegetables in a microwave or no vegetables I would go for the microwave every time.
I wouldn't want to heat up blood in a microwave, as some areas will get overheated and start to clot/die, so it is not surprising this caused problems.
His physics is dodgy as both microwaves and normal light are both AC, the only difference is that microwave energy is analagous to laser light and all the waves are moving in step where as normal light is random, but this won't have the effects he is talking about.
I don't think there is enough energy in microwaves to directly rip molecules apart, I think most of the changes associated with them are due to heating stuff up.
Being exposed to microwaves is a bad thing - they can cook you, but I don't think it is much worse than this
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My impression is that it is a mixture of a few facts with a lot of misunderstandings/distortions mixed in with it.
heating clean liquids in microwaves can be dangerous, as you can get areas that are much hotter than other areas, to the point that they can be heated above boiling point, but have nowhere for the bobbles to form until you tip them up, add a spoon etc. when it explodes.
You are unlikely to get the problem of baby milk exploding (unless you really overheat it) but I would make sure you give the baby milk a good stir/shake/mix before you check the temperature to even out any hot-spots.
I think these hot-spots can also reduce the vitamin content of the food slightly by overheating bit s of it, but if it is a choice between vegetables in a microwave or no vegetables I would go for the microwave every time.
I wouldn't want to heat up blood in a microwave, as some areas will get overheated and start to clot/die, so it is not surprising this caused problems.
His physics is dodgy as both microwaves and normal light are both AC, the only difference is that microwave energy is analagous to laser light and all the waves are moving in step where as normal light is random, but this won't have the effects he is talking about.
I don't think there is enough energy in microwaves to directly rip molecules apart, I think most of the changes associated with them are due to heating stuff up.
Being exposed to microwaves is a bad thing - they can cook you, but I don't think it is much worse than this
LOL ! Being cooked by the microwaves couldn't get much worse in my book!! YIKES LOL
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this article was full of leaps in logic that i just couldnt make.
one of the main things is they made no mention of results of comparing particual foods cooked in a regular oven vs. a microwave. they would compare being cooked in a microwave to "not being cooked in a microwave". of course heating and cooking all foods breaks down some of the nutritive content. but if what your cooking can give you salmonela, triganosis(no idea how to spell) or other bacteria infections, youre still way better off using the microwave which is very thurough.
unless you take it all the way and espouse eating only raw foods, singling out microwaves as the source of all digestive health problems is nonsense
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As Dave suggests, microwaves are not ionising radiation. In other words, the wavelengths used (about 12cm) are of insufficient energy to break chemical bonds. This means that microwaves are not mutagenic. They may, however, exert electromagnetic effects on sensitive materials. Whether this includes your brain or not is hotly (pardon the pun) debated. What's clear is that if you put your head in a microwave, as one woman did to dry her hair quickly when she was late for a date, you will die because bits of your brain will be rapidly heated to boiling point...
Chris
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As Dave suggests, microwaves are not ionising radiation. In other words, the wavelengths used (about 12cm) are of insufficient energy to break chemical bonds. This means that microwaves are not mutagenic.
My understanding is that the water molecules resonate at 2.45 Giga Hertz, the same as the chosen microwave oven frequency, and not the food. Bung a piece of dead dry toast in the oven and it won't heat.
But what of this?
'Two researchers, Blanc and Hertel, confirmed that microwave cooking significantly changes food nutrients. Hertel previously worked as a food scientist for several years with one of the major Swiss food companies. He was fired from his job for questioning procedures in processing food because they denatured it. He got together with Blanc of the Swiss Federal Institute of Biochemistry and the University Institute for Biochemistry.'
http://www.relfe.com/microwave.html
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Well, I suppose that microwave cooking can cook the water within the cell, and make the cells explode (if that is the right word here). Anyway, this would destroy the cell as well as freezing does. Traditional cooking heats from the outside, so the pressure inside the cell will never be much greater than the pressure outside, which would result in less damage to cell walls. Maybe that is what these researchers mean by "denaturation".
So maybe your microwave cooked food will have a low shelf-life, same as defrosted food. But I don't think there is much danger in case of immediate consumption.
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I know this is an older thread but the topic is of concern to me and I wanted to add
another link in here that will prove useful for others.
Article on microves (http://www.wddty.com/03363800373020360098/microwave-ovens-a-recipe-for-cancer.html) from the WDDTY website.
Especially some of the 'cases' stated towards the end of the article are worth reading.
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I think he's raving.
It's an endless list of this and that with too many points and too little detail and justification.
The physics is very 'fringe'.
What has the effect on baby milk got to do with anything? Local heating is always a bit of a problem - and so it is on the bottom a saucepan over a high flame. You get burning.
He uses the word "violence" to describe what happens to water molecules with microwaves. Well, you can't get more violent than BOILING the stuff when you steam vegetables on a gas ring.
He shoots himself in the foot by over-cooking his own argument.
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From the article.
----By comparison, microwaves from the sun are based on principles of pulsed direct current (DC) that don't create frictional heat; microwave ovens use alternating current (AC) creating frictional heat.------
???? Uttter rubbish. Reminds me of loonies who claim that mobile phone base stations caused a whole long list of things... Their technical knowledge is usually very poor as the above extract demonstrates.