The Microwave Oven: Is it actually hurting us? Likely so it appears...

I found an answer sort of, about why it doesn't heat the air noticeably.

Supposedly there is not enough water molecules within the air for it to have notable effects, in the manner that a conventional oven does when you open it up.

However, this is interesting because I live in an area with exceptionally high humidity rates within the air, and so I do find it odd that I notice no heat increase on the air volume even when humidity is over 80%.

I suppose that the density of the air itself is so dispersed and thin, that it probably does in fact heat up the air but at such a low level that it will not be notable or increase more than a few degrees F.

Originally posted by LimitedHorizons
The only thing i miss is chicken tika massala

Miss no more. link to recipe I make it all the time.

reply to post by muzzleflash


ive been saying this to family and friends for years.... here is a link... hope it already aint been put up

www.health-science.com...

maybe some of the water is turned into hydrogen peroxide

That black stuff that is left on your food when you grill.....guess what. It's carcinogenic@!@!~!~!

Originally posted by mnmcandiez
That black stuff that is left on your food when you grill.....guess what. It's carcinogenic@!@!~!~!

You can mitigate those dangers by making a few adjustments.

Cook at a lower heat for longer, for example you can wait until the embers of the coals are burning lower. The more overcooked an item becomes , the higher chance it can form heterocyclic amines (carcinogens) within. (According to what I have read).

Also, the materials used as fuel (wood,charcoal,gas) to cook with may also play a direct role in this.

Cook with lower fat meats so that there is less dripping and thus less flame-ups from the grill. This one tip will help reduce the amount of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that get on your food when the smoke touches the outer layer of the food you are cooking.

Little things like this can improve the health quality drastically.

Artificially produced microwaves, including those in ovens, are produced from alternating current and force a billion or more polarity reversals per second in every food molecule they hit.

well since most microwaves operate at a few thousand hertz, you can only have double that many polarity reversals (2 per complete sine wave). I'm not saying they are not bad for you, but lets at least have some truthful information, few thousand polarity reversals, not billions.....

reply to post by againuntodust


Microwaves excite rotational modes in water- and many other compounds will have vibrational or rotational modes that can also be excited by microwaves- especially food b/c of the relatively large size of molecules. I only use microwave ovens to heat water in glass or ceramic containers- otherwise carcinogens are produced in detectable amounts. You can google it, but studies show that dioxins can be produced when fatty foods are nuked. It does not surprise me at all that an inventor would not use one.

So I guess I'm screwed!
Here are the things I've used a microwave for:

Defrosting a beer left in the freezer, removing germs from my plastic toothbrush, reheating GMO grown beef that was cooked in a BBQ, testing the "CD/DVD in the microwave" thing (really cool!), putting a dozen eggs in the microwave at the 7-11, drying out my leather wallet after falling into the lake (that one didn't turn out so well!), boiling water to sterilize my rectal thermometer, soldering my cell phone to a pair of wired headsets (world's 1st Bluetooth device!), lighting my cigarette, lighting my... other "Special" cigarette, trying to see if human emitted methane is combustable from microwaves (don't try this one, I still have to sit on a butt pillow!), pop rocks... mentos... diet coke... alka seltzer... hydrogen peroxide... and refried beans do not mix well toghether when trying to create your own thermally combined rocket fuel in the microwave!

Most of these things were performed by a very misguided teenager who had little parental supervision. Please do not judge me, and PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT ANY OF THE THINGS I MENTIONED HERE!
You are all way too smart to be as stupid as I was, and the Doctors tell me that the 30mm tumor on my neck is probably just caused from all the tanning beds I layed in during my youth!

Microwaves are TOTALLY SAFE, AND TOTALLY FUN!

Oh SNIP!!!! My hairdryer just broke! Hmmmm......60 seconds should do!

reply to post by muzzleflash


People will find things they don't understand that are of minimal risk to be the evil killer lurking in the shadows. Meanwhile, the more obvious reasons escape them, and diseases persist.

Causes of cancer: sugar & white bread & other poor eating habits such as general overeating; excessive stress.

Same goes for heart disease.

We're also living longer lives, so naturally we are dying of different causes than 100 years ago.

Blaming a microwave while allowing things such as the causes I mentioned above to remain, is kind of myopic.

Originally posted by muzzleflash

Originally posted by Chadwickus
reply to post by muzzleflash

 

Are there any long term health studies carried out on this?

Microwaves have been commercially available for 64 years.

Plenty of time to see a trend.

I don't know. Many of the old folks mostly have cancers these days. It's impossible to tell where from, with 100s of different types of cancers in any organ conceivable.

I am just looking for proof that this isn't a likely source.

There isn't any real proof that cancer is going up, reporting and diagnosis however have increased dramatically.

In the past "natural causes" was the #1 cause of death.

Seriously theres a thread on this website against everything. What ISNT terrible and evil to you people? According to this website everything ever invented is a ploy from the US government made for the sole purpose of hurting people. Did you ever stop to think maybe your bat crap crazy?

This is interesting stuff -- however, I was under the impression that "polarity reversal" was NOT the way Microwaves actually heat.

While ALL radiowaves, are essentially EM fields that alternate -- Microwave ovens are particularly tuned to Water Molecule frequencies -- that's why a DRY food, like toast, will barely heat. This process of heating by RM fields is called; Dielectric Heating

It does INDEED cause "pole reversals" -- but I was under the impression, it did not effect MOST molecules.

The water molecules themselves get a "resonant frequency" tuned to the H2O molecule, and the size of the microwave is important to "amplify" the waves as they bounce back and forth inside the oven-- the microwave length is 4.80 in -- so some even multiple of this is ideal. The H2O heats up, and this "steam" is what actually cooks the food. That's why Microwave ovens are horrible for "baking" and can make foods soggy.

"Polar changes" of any other non H2) molecules would likely only happen on conductive or metallic objects -- I didn't think this would effect organic molecules, though I cannot say for sure.


>> If this effect is a "byproduct" or the test is misconstruing water polar changes for ALL polar changes -- I cannot say.

A double-blind test, however that shows actual and dramatic blood changes in people eating Microwave foods would be the most convincing study to me -- as we cannot really account for ALL PROCESSES involved. However; it remains to be seen how good this study is and how legitimate.


>> Unfortunately, in today's "profit over all" atmosphere -- I don't think that our EPA, FDA or other three-letter agency would be jumping on this if it hurt a large company.

reply to post by muzzleflash


Microwave ovens heat food with non-ionising radiation which excites the particles and causes heat by friction. As soon as the radiation source is released the particles loose the effect of the non-ionising radiation on them and their nuclei have not been altered. Therefore Microwaved food does not contain harmful radiation or any more bad aspects than normal conventional cooked food. And that is all FACT.

I got rid of my microwave years ago. I also never keep a cell phone on my body or talk on it very much at all.

These modern "conveniences" have a price - our health. No thanks. I reheat food on a cast iron skillet or pot like the old fashion way.

Not nearly as much as those energy drinks, and especially the small shots said to give hours of energy.

Just wait until the true affects from secret contents in the above are revealed years from now.

Leave my microwave, cell phones and wi-fi alone.

reply to post by ladyinwaiting


I am sorry but pacemakers are not plastic... If they were I could have a MRI. Micro chips, batteries are not plastic. Sorry but I have had mine over 4 years. They do make better shielding on Microwaves. I am not supposed to use chainsaws because of the CDI ignition. The do not recommend welding too, but can but can be done carefully. But I have done that being careful of where the ground is placed to the welding and me. Just not any 300 amp or greater

I got rid of our microwave about eight years ago and feel much better without it. Before I threw it out, I read some Russian studies about microwave ovens and how they denature food, but what broke the camel's back was a simple family website where a ca. 10-year-old girl described her science project.

She bought two small plants, same type, same size, and watered one with regular tap water, the other with water that been heated in the microwave. (And yes, she did let the water get cold before she watered the plants -- duh.) Anyway, after about two weeks the microwave-watered plant was dead, whereas the other was healthy and growing. That did it for me.

Just immagine if we had stupid bussy body scientists, health and safety officers and reporters looking for a story when man first discoverd how to cook over a fire:

Introduction into the human body of high temperateure, hight energy particles of food is unatural, and is much more likely to cause harm than the raw foods we are used to. Hot cooked foods contain particles and energies not present in raw foods. Heat from the Sun is Ok, but heat from the fire is a billion times closer and can cause unatural molecules..... etc

Then lets look at the flawed science:

A BILLION polarity reversals in 1 seccond? What sort of frequecy is that?

According a q very quick look at wikipedia, I find this

A microwave oven works by passing non-ionizing microwave radiation, usually at a frequency of 2.45 gigahertz (GHz)—a wavelength of 122 millimetres (4.80 in)—through the food. Microwave radiation is between common radio and infrared frequencies

Yes. 2.45 GHz. - NOT billions of cycles per seccond at all. So that was just plain wrong.

This is just yyet another scare story. Billions of microwave meals are eaten every day - I don't see billions of people dying from it.

Is it bad I put my face right up against the microwave door and watch the food turn round and round slowly for anywhere from 3 to 8 minutes. Kinda makes me sleepy, very relaxing. It will be a hard habit to break but it sounds not to be a good idea.