Microwave ovens: we hate ’em but we love ’em. Nearly everyone owns one and they’re exceptionally useful to reheat food in. Yet a lot of people think microwaves pose a danger to people’s health and that using it can cause cancer. Is using a microwave really that unhealthy and dangerous? We’ve got the answer.
How does it work
Let’s first have a short history lesson: the microwave was in invented in 1940 and first sold in 1946. The device heats food through the use of electromagnetic microwaves. This is an invisible type of energy that causes the water particles within food to move. The heat that this produces warms our food. It sounds like an ideal method. Yet these microwaves are a form of radiation, and that’s what scares a lot of people.
Radiation
Radiation exists in many different forms. Gamma radiation (100 billion gigahertz) is the stuff you find in a nuclear bomb, and this type of radiation goes straight through you and damages the cells in your body while doing so. X-radiation (10 billion gigahertz) is less strong, but does penetrate the skin. It doesn’t go through your bones, though. UV-radiation (1 billion gigahertz) is the strongest type after that, and it can penetrate your skin at a depth of 1 millimeter. This can cause skin cancer. A microwave works with radiation of 2.45 gigahertz, which is at the same level as your smartphone or television. This radiation can do little to no damage. Plus, the microwave is manufactured in such a way that the radiation can’t escape.
Nutrients
Another argument to not use a microwave is that it would cause nutrients to disappear from the food. Washing, soaking or heating foods will always cause nutrients to be lost. Vitamin C is especially sensitive to heat. The funny thing is, though, that research has shown that vitamins and minerals are preserved better when heated in a microwave. This is because heating food in microwaves takes a lot less long than heating something on the stove. Because of this, the food has less time to lose nutrients. In short, the only unhealthy thing about microwave ovens is the microwave meals you buy at the supermarket!