Microwave kills all the nutrients in food? True or false?

1. 68

   Sue Adamsposted 12 years ago

   Microwave kills all the nutrients in food? True or false?
   
   I just read a comment on a hub stating:
   "Don't use a microwave, it kills all nutrients in food. Is this true or false? And, if it is true, then why? Is it the radiation?
   
   

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2. 77

   JimTxMillerposted 12 years ago

   Hi, Sue. Don't believe everything you read in Hub comments. Nor the New York Times for that matter, but NYT does offer a pretty good discussion of your question.
   
   http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/healt … .html?_r=0
   
   The short answer is no, microwave radiation does not kill nutrients, poison your water nor make your hamster go bald.

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   1. 69

      sarahmooseposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Great answer Jim, although I still wouldn't suggest putting the hamster in the microwave! :-)

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3. 96

   LongTimeMotherposted 12 years ago

   I don't know about killing all the nutrients in food, but I have been avoiding microwaves for years. I prefer more passive cooking. My first choice is solar, but that's not always possible. I don't like the thought of eating food that contains radiation, and I know you're supposed to wait before eating microwaved food.

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      cascolyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      microwaved food has no more radiation than sitting your carrots in front of the tv or radio.  another misconception is that irradiating food to kill microorganisms makes the food radioactive

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4. 0

   richard alburoposted 12 years ago

   False . Using microwave do not lessen nutrients on your food unless you over cook it. Same as blanching or boiling your food long time specially vegetables. Radiation on the other hand gives you problem specially on your eyes.

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5. 75

   dorothy0328posted 12 years ago

   To answer your question about microwaving I wish I could give you a certain answer however I do tend to watch a lot of Dr. Oz and other health and cooking shows and as far as I have learned if you boil the vegetable you may be cooking the nutrients such as vitamin C and Vitamin A most of the way out of the vegetable. So my thinking is that you can boil water in a microwave and you can cook your vegetables in a microwave so therefore  by microwaving your vegetables you may possibly be cooking essential vitamins and minerals from the food. I have always enjoyed fresh steamed vegetables as they retain the vitamins and minerals and even have better taste to me. But an easy alternative you may be able to use without losing more nutrients would maybe be to buy a steam in the bag type of frozen vegetable (such as Steam Fresh) that is usually my second choice to using a canned vegetable as canned vegetables often have more sodium (even if the label says low sodium or no salt added there is still sodium content in the preservatives used in canned vegetables.), and may not contain the vitamin content the other methods may have. I hope this answer helps you with your question.

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6. 60

   SkincareExpert1posted 12 years ago

   I avoid microwaves because I don't like the taste of foods cooked in it...it's like a gross, steamy, slimy mess. Actually, I would be more concered of how the fresh vegetables you buy at the store are stored. Research has shown that veggies on the top of the bunch, under direct light, will have more nutrients than ones stored on the bottom in darkness.

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7. 60

   cascolyposted 11 years ago

   no more than any other way of cooking -- stoevetop cooking removes lots of nutrients too -- I use a minimum of water, since that's where a lot of taste/nutrients are lost
   
   anyone who says microwaved veggies are slimy or tasteless obviously hasn't learned how to use the microwave!
   
   here's some tips http://cascoly.hubpages.com/hub/How-to- … -Microwave from one of my most popular cooking hubs

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