# Do you consider microwave ok for baby's food?



## gracemamma

I'd always read that microwaves kept more nutrients in food etc., but then saw before having our babe that microwaves change the composition of breastmilk. I've been using the microwave for baby's food but feeling a bit uncomfortable about it. Does anyone know of good recent data on this subject?

Do you feels comfortable with it? Why? Why not?

Thank you!


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## elisheva

We have never had a microwave. DH did the research...he's asleep or I'd ask him. Maybe others will be able to help. Honestly, I had one all my single life and I don't miss it one bit. We heat everything on the stove or in the oven. For baby food that needed heating (I didn't heat everything), I would put some in a small stainless steel bowl, set it in another bowl of hot tap water and stir it until it was warm-ish - this was very quick (30 seconds?) and I never had to worry about hot spots and other issues with microwaved food.


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## cristeen

If i can avoid it, I dont eat microwaved food. I certainly ammnot comfortable feeding it to DS. That being said, i dont heat his food at all. If i cooked it its warm, otherwise he eats it at room temp or stone cold. I dont even warm his bottles anymore. I figure we eat our foods at a variety of temperatures, he can get used to it to.


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## greenemami

When our microwave broke, we chose not to replace it. I feel better (even though I honestly haven't done a lot of great scientific research) not using a microwave in general and I don't miss it at all. If you are using a microwave, especially for baby's food, be sure not to heat it in plastic dishes-I wish I had more research for this, but I am sure you can find some if you google it


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## calynde

We have also never had one, and nobody here in our extended family has one either come to think of it. I don't feel comfortable eating microwaved food, and i certainly wouldn't feel good about it for my baby. It's one of those things for me that i don't even need scientific validation for, it just doesn't feel right to me...like teflon pans and a number of other everyday things that are generally considered fine to use.

My fairly crunchy best friend doesn't seem to think she can function without one, though, so i guess everyone has their own comfort levels regarding such matters.

Good luck!


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## New_Natural_Mom

We never microwaved DS' food and wouldn't allow it to be microwaved at daycare. (I asked them to float it in hot water.) It changes the composition of the food and I don't think it is healthy. I really don't miss it. We heat everything on the stove or oven, it's not bad. I think my DH occassionally misses the pop it in and forget it convenience, but I usually heat stuff up for him so he won't complain out loud.


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## sapphire_chan

It changes the composition of food because it is cooking. You also really shouldn't pasteurize breastmilk by any other means.

All cooking affects the state of the nutrients in food. Some will diminish, others will become more available for absorption, this is why eating a variety of food prepared in a variety of ways is so important.

I once used a scientific papers database to do a search for studies about microwave safety and then read through all of the abstracts and enough of each study to see whether the abstracts matched the actual data (it's sad that the second part was necessary, but researchers sometimes present conclusions that have nothing to do with their data) this included the infamous blood study.

The conclusion I reached was:

To microwave food safely, the best thing to do is stir it well after microwaving.


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## SeattleRain

I microwave Daniel's food. I don't use plastic, only glass or ceramic or stainless steel and I only microwave it for 10 seconds so that its room temperature. I'm comfortable with this because, honestly, I have other "crunchy" battles to fight day to day. I don't have time to deal with one more thing, you know?


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## gracemamma

thanks for all the feedback. Ive used the microwave for my own food for awhile and love the convenience but have thought about how I never had any microwaved food in childhood.

saphire chan: would you mind explaining the stirring bit- I'm very curious. I know you are supposed to wait a minute because the molecules are still bouncing around.

I'm thinking about minimizing it but I do try to cook quantities of things so we can get out and do stuff and come come home to dinner already ready. Maybe I need to get some small SS pans so I dont need to dirty up several big ones to reheat food.

Still thinking about it all.


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## sapphire_chan

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *gracemamma*
> 
> saphire chan: would you mind explaining the stirring bit-


It's a physical safety thing. You're just making sure there aren't pockets of hotter food/liquid.


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## sapphire_chan

Regarding one of the more...aggressive websites against microwaves, I personally was finally convinced of microwave safety when I realized that the person who wanted me to have confidence in their scientific opinion 1. didn't cite their sources and 2. thought that one sign of a microwave being dangerous was that you can't bake in microwaves.

The first because it meant that their evidence was "because I say so". (And I did manage to track down the microwaved blood study and the problem was a physical one not a biological/chemical one. Also tracked down the "microwaved water kills plants" thing and it is, quite simply, a lie.)

And the second was comforting because it showed that the person either knew nothing about microwave ovens or was also scared of frying pans.


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## elus0814

We live in military housing and have a built in microwave. We go several days without using it but we do use it a few times each week. I especially like it for warming up water when I'm baking bread and need to bloom the yeast. I don't microwave baby food. I thaw the frozen homemade baby food cubes in the fridge or on the counter in a stoneware or glass bowl then set them in hot water to warm up.


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## JamieB

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan*
> 
> Regarding one of the more...aggressive websites against microwaves, I personally was finally convinced of microwave safety when I realized that the person who wanted me to have confidence in their scientific opinion 1. didn't cite their sources and 2. thought that one sign of a microwave being dangerous was that you can't bake in microwaves.
> 
> The first because it meant that their evidence was "because I say so". (And I did manage to track down the microwaved blood study and the problem was a physical one not a biological/chemical one. Also tracked down the "microwaved water kills plants" thing and it is, quite simply, a lie.)
> 
> And the second was comforting because it showed that the person either knew nothing about microwave ovens *or was also scared of frying pans*.


LOL You just made me snort!


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## Ammaarah

I don't think I'll ever lose sleep over microwaved food, for big people or little people, unless some very clear peer-reviewed studies come out showing that it really is bad.


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## JudiAU

Microwaves preserve viatmins better than other cooking methods. When we did purees, we microwaved everything in a pyrex mixxing cup. We use ours frequently. Microwaves can create hot spots though and that can causing burning (not supposed to microwave formula either) and overheating can mess with the micronutrients in bm. Also, no plastic bottles are microwave safe although I guess in theory glass might be.


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## Thyme Mama

personally, i find it very weird that people feel comfortable using microwave RADIATION to heat/cook food. isn't it a generally accepted fact that radiation causes cancer?????? chernobyl etc.,???? again, i reiterate that the concept of using radiation to "cook" food is simply asinine. though that is my opinion. our family does not own a microwave, and we do our utmost to reject microwaved food.


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## Marissamom

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Thyme Mama*
> 
> personally, i find it very weird that people feel comfortable using microwave RADIATION to heat/cook food. isn't it a generally accepted fact that radiation causes cancer?????? chernobyl etc.,???? again, i reiterate that the concept of using radiation to "cook" food is simply asinine. though that is my opinion. our family does not own a microwave, and we do our utmost to reject microwaved food.


there are many, many types of radiation, and the type used in microwaves is completely different than the type that is know to cause cancer. for perspective, light and sound are both types of radiation as well, but you don't spend all your time in a dark, quiet space for fear of cancer. I'm not saying that there might not be other potential issues with microwaves (though ours gets a ton of use, so obviously I don't feel that they pose any big threat), but radiation that could cause cancer is not one of them.


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## Ammaarah

Yeah, Chernobyl and a microwave oven don't have a ton in common.


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## Hannah32

I think the only real danger of microwaving food is that it can create hot spots that can burn the baby's mouth. This is why we warm up bm at room temp. However, sometimes, we will micro a jar of food for ten seconds, which doesn't allow it to get too hot.

I've quite using the micro with plastic, for the most part. I bought a nice glass Pyrex dish for leftovers to eat at work. I want to find a nice big one for my hubby too.


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## savithny

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Thyme Mama*
> 
> personally, i find it very weird that people feel comfortable using microwave RADIATION to heat/cook food. isn't it a generally accepted fact that radiation causes cancer?????? chernobyl etc.,???? again, i reiterate that the concept of using radiation to "cook" food is simply asinine. though that is my opinion. our family does not own a microwave, and we do our utmost to reject microwaved food.


Well, since plants use radiation to MAKE food, and I eat plants, I guess my comfort level starts right there! I'm a big fan of UVA and UVB radiation, myself, since it warms the earth, makes plants grow, and helps me make necessary Vitamin D. Sure, too much of it DOES cause skin cancer, I guess ... but without it, we'd all die.

Long story short: There are lots of kinds of "radiation."


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## Thyme Mama

touche

there are different types of radiation obviously. i'm sorry i wasn't more specific.







microwave radiation imo is the "bad" kind of radiation. imho, telling yourselves that "there are all kinds of radiation, so microwaves are just fine" is a salve to your consciences. microwave cooking is lazy. it is not harder to heat something on the stove or in a toaster oven. tastes better too. the fact that microwaves alter breast milk and destroy it tells *me* quite plainly that it destroys the nutrients in other foods too.


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## plantnerd

I often used the microwave to take the chill off of D's food when he was a baby. As pp's have said, be sure to stir stir stir and test it to make sure you eliminate hot spots.

btw, I love the micro for steaming veggies, just cut up, put in ceramic casserole with a little water, some butter, and seasonings, and cover with a glass lid.


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## savithny

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Thyme Mama*
> 
> touche
> 
> there are different types of radiation obviously. i'm sorry i wasn't more specific.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> microwave radiation imo is the "bad" kind of radiation. imho, telling yourselves that "there are all kinds of radiation, so microwaves are just fine" is a salve to your consciences. microwave cooking is lazy. it is not harder to heat something on the stove or in a toaster oven. tastes better too. the fact that microwaves alter breast milk and destroy it tells *me* quite plainly that it destroys the nutrients in other foods too.


All cooking changes the composition of foods, including breastmilk. When I was pumping and had extra to freeze rather than to feed fresh the next day, I found I had to scald my milk because I had a lipase issue and frozen/thawed milk had an unpleasant taste and my DD wouldn't touch it.

In general, applying heat to foods changes them. Some changes are beneficial, some aren't. Long heating destroys several vitamins, such that quickly-microwaved veggies retain more of those vitamins. Other nutrients are made more available through heating, as the heat breaks down cell walls and makes some cells more digestible.

There is absolutely no scientific evidence that exciting water molecules changes the chemical composition of food any more than applying heat via a cast iron pan or plunging the food into boiling water.

However, there is evidence that the browning effect that comes from roasting/grilling does produce carcinogens in foods. So does the baking or frying of starches. Microwaves avoid all those reactions, preventing carcinogens from forming in your food.


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## Adaline'sMama

No. Occasionally I use a microwave for my food, but not for my babe's. I havent really done the research, but it just seems like something I dont want to do. I will heat her food with hot water, or not at all. If I just cooked it , its warm. If its leftovers, its room temp or cold. She never seems to mind.


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## Mom2M

The first time I read this thread, I thought, Come on, this is ridiculous, there are no horrible effects from microwaving and microwaving isn't deforming molecules to change them to some mutated form that will kill you.
I still feel that way, however, I was interested in this and decided to do some reading and was really surprised by some of the things I found.
None of this information, by the way, is from any radical site that will remain unnamed, lol

I'm actually a chemist so I started reading some journal articles about microwave effects and there are two kinds. The thermal effects, which are the result of heating and the same effects you would get from cooking in other ways, and the non thermal effects which are unique to microwaving.
In the 80's and 90's, there were quite a few studies done that suggested the possibility of non thermal effects on food but more recent studies have disproved these results and conclude that there are no non thermal effects at all.
However,when I looked at some chemistry journal articles that are studies on the use of microwaves in applied chemistry, there are non thermal effects of microwaves on the reactants that are observed when the medium is non polar.
I'm now wondering if there could be some non thermal microwave effects on food that contain fats since they are non polar. If you melt butter in the microwave, is the effect on the butter molecules significant to food safety/quality because it is chemically different than when it is melted on the stove?
If the food is water soluble, there should be no non thermal effects and the heating reaction is the same as when you use the oven, stove, fire or whatever.

Although food cooked in the microwave does lose vitamin B, food cooked on the stove or in the oven loses many more vitamins that microwaving preserves. Also, there is a risk of carcinogen formation when food is cooked too well done on the stove, grill or oven that does not occur with microwaving.

I haven't found any studies that are available for no cost that look at these non thermal effects on foods that contain fats or other non polar solvents but it's interesting and I'm definitely going to continue to look into this.

From what I read though, overall, cooking with any heat source of course changes the molecules of the food and cooking on the stove/oven/fire, etc...has definitely been shown to cause carcinogen formation in some situations and pretty significant loss of nutrients.
Cooking in the microwave shows much less loss of nutrients and for the most part, seems to have thermal effects on molecules that are no different than cooking with other heat sources.
But now there is a question in my mind of whether the non thermal effects of microwaves have a significant effect on food when there are non polar solvents and what the ratio of polar/non polar solvents does to the formation of non thermal effects.

To answer the original OP's question, lol, I always reheat foods in the microwave for my children and the only thing I've ever worried about are the hot spots.
When I reheated breastmilk, I did it in warm water because the proteins are denatured faster in the areas where there are hot spots that form while microwaving. But if you heated it too high on the stove, that heat would have the same effect as the microwave heating.

ETA here is a link to one of the articles I read that talks about using the non thermal effects on reactions.
http://media.iupac.org/publications/pac/2001/pdf/7301x0161.pdf


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## Dar

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Thyme Mama*
> 
> touche
> 
> there are different types of radiation obviously. i'm sorry i wasn't more specific.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> microwave radiation imo is the "bad" kind of radiation. imho, telling yourselves that "there are all kinds of radiation, so microwaves are just fine" is a salve to your consciences. microwave cooking is lazy. it is not harder to heat something on the stove or in a toaster oven. tastes better too. the fact that microwaves alter breast milk and destroy it tells *me* quite plainly that it destroys the nutrients in other foods too.


From an environmental perspective, microwaves use a lot less energy than a toaster oven or stove to produce the same amount of heat.

As far as different kinds of radiation, well, yes, there are. Microwaves are one type of electromagnetic radiation. Other types are radio waves and visible light (and microwave radiation is somewhere in between the two in terms of wavelength). I don't think these things are bad... I wonder if there's some confusion over the term "radiation"? In this situation the word is used in the sense of "to radiate" and has nothing to do with radioactivity.


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## Babina's Mommy

I agree with Thyme Mama...and I'm not the most perfect eater in the world...I eat cookies, ice cream, etc. but I cannot get on board with microwaved food. I took it out of my kitchen when my firstborn was about 6 months old. I do not miss it. The thought of microwaved food just grossed me out, especially after stumbling across information about microwaving just turned me off. Anyone read the study online about the cats being fed microwaved cat food? Yeah that's what did it for us. Also, I've heard and read most doctors, pediatricians, baby books etc. recommend against microwaving the breast milk. Yes I understand heating food of any method changes composition...but it's usually only microwaving that's strongly advised against. If it's so bad for breast milk, I think it would be bad for other foods as well. Even if I'm wrong about all of it, it's okay, we choose not to partake anyway.


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## D_McG

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Babina's Mommy*
> 
> Also, I've heard and read most doctors, pediatricians, baby books etc. recommend against microwaving the breast milk. Yes I understand heating food of any method changes composition...but it's usually only microwaving that's strongly advised against. If it's so bad for breast milk, I think it would be bad for other foods as well. Even if I'm wrong about all of it, it's okay, we choose not to partake anyway.


That's just because of the hot spots mentioned above.


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## Babina's Mommy

Nope, even many mainstream sites and books recommend it because of the hot spots and also the negative breakdown of the composition, not just hot spots.


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## tankgirl73

I use the microwave for reheating plates of food and when I quickly need melted butter, but that's about it. We don't "cook" in it and we don't use plastic containers. I think there are probably some not-so-great things about it, but there are not-so-great things about nearly every way we prepare food... pros and cons, benefits and drawbacks. Moderation, balance, etc.

The point that I wanted to make, though, was that it shouldn't matter whether it's "baby food", because babies should just be getting real food anyway. There's no real difference between "my food" and the food I give my babies. Purees are unnecessary and not worth the effort. So, "warming up baby food" becomes pretty irrelevant... it's either already warm because it's fresh-cooked, or you're reheating leftovers for everybody anyway.


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## goldenwillow

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *savithny*
> 
> Well, since plants use radiation to MAKE food, and I eat plants, I guess my comfort level starts right there! I'm a big fan of UVA and UVB radiation, myself, since it warms the earth, makes plants grow, and helps me make necessary Vitamin D. Sure, too much of it DOES cause skin cancer, I guess ... but without it, we'd all die.
> 
> Long story short: There are lots of kinds of "radiation."


True... just choices of what you are comfortable with.

This is one of those hot topics that can make one's blood boil.

We do not use microwaves and haven't now for oh... 4 years. It personally just isn't in the cards for me. My research and my gut says it just feels wrong, so that is why it is a no go. I am so chemically sensitive that it is just one more bad energy out of my system.

Oh... I am also one of those who cares about what pans are used too.


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## goldenwillow

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Thyme Mama*
> 
> touche
> 
> there are different types of radiation obviously. i'm sorry i wasn't more specific.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> microwave radiation imo is the "bad" kind of radiation. imho, telling yourselves that "there are all kinds of radiation, so microwaves are just fine" is a salve to your consciences. microwave cooking is lazy. it is not harder to heat something on the stove or in a toaster oven. tastes better too. the fact that microwaves alter breast milk and destroy it tells *me* quite plainly that it destroys the nutrients in other foods too.










Love it


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## sapphire_chan

Because of the breastmilk thing, I wouldn't microwave yogurt an expect the probiotics to do anything for me afterwards. But I think that a mix of microwaved broccoli and fresh broccoli will be healthier than fresh alone and far far better than only eating boiled veggies.


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## gracemamma

I'm pretty fond of the suns radiation too! Thanks for all the interesting discussion folks!


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## gracemamma

OP here again: I didnt see there was a 2nd page of comments when I replied above! Mom2M- Wow! The chemists perspective is very much appreciated. Looking forward to chceking out that link and to reading the other comments here. I really appreciate the discussion!


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## gracemamma

OP again: What happened to cats who ate microwaved food?


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## Mom2M

The study about cats eating cooked food is called the Pottenger cat study. It actually has nothing to do with eating microwaved food.
Pottenger was doing research on cats to test how strong adrenal extract was, by removing their adrenal glands and supplementing them with the extract to replace their adrenal gland function.
He noticed that when he ran out of his supply of cooked meat and had to substitute raw meat, the cats had better post op survival.

He decided to do a study on cooked vs raw meat in cats diet and found that cooking the meat denatured the protein and caused a deficiency in the amino acid taurine. As he bred the cats and continued to feed them cooked meat, mutations developed because of the lack of taurine.
Cats did fine on a diet of cooked meat when the food was supplemented with taurine after cooking.

He did NOT cook the meat in a microwave, lol

Somehow, this experiment got mixed in with people saying "hey, look, the cooking in the microwave deforms proteins and causes vitamin deficiency just like Pottenger's cat experiment so it must follow that the mutations seen in the future generations of his cats deprived of taurine will happen in humans!"
But he never cooked it in a microwave.

Looking at one of the more aggressively anti-microwave sites, they mention the cat study but add this to the end of it *""The overall experiment had some of the earmarks of the Pottenger cat studies, except that now human beings were test objects, the experiment's time-frame was shorter, and a new heat form was tested."* Why this study is relevant to microwave use, I have yet to discover.
ETA link to this site http://www.all-natural.com/microwa1.html

Any heat source (as mentioned by pp) denatures proteins. http://www.chemistryexplained.com/Co-Di/Denaturation.html

Looking at studies on cow milk, because there are a lot of really good ones, you can see that protein denaturation is desirable in production of cheese and yogurt for example. Changing the structure of the proteins can make the texture different which is what you want in yogurt and cheese.
In this study, http://www.milkfacts.info/Milk%20Composition/protein.htm, there is an explanation of how this happens. Also, at the end it mentions pasteurization. If you scroll down to the last section, it talks about the effects of heat and mentions the effect of severe heating causing damage to some amino acids.
What I'm thinking (this is my opinion) is that when you heat breastmilk in the microwave, you get those hot spots and the possibility of losing important nutrients could be because those hot spots imitate severe heat results like they talk about here.
When warming slowly in water on the stove, the heat is better controlled and doesn't reach that severe heat treatment level.

Link to book on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Pottengers-Cats-Francis-Marion-Pottenger/dp/0916764060/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296920670&sr=1-1


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## Babina's Mommy

Eh, I don't think it's the same study I originally read....here's part of it from http://owen.curezone.com/healing/trashmicrowave.html

Quote:


> Andreas finishes up with a chilling story which I'll paraphrase. Russian scientists took thousands of healthy cats, and gave them nothing but nutritious and natural foods that had been heated in a microwave for just 1 minute. The result? In six months, all the cats were dead. When the scientists performed autopsies on some of the cats, they found that the animals had literally starved to death. The cells in their bodies contained no trace of nutrient components, even though the dead bodies looked well-fed. "Microwaves had turned their food into deadly poison."


That just kind of turned me off. Let me just say first off the reason why most of us aren't dead from microwaving though, is because we don't eat every single meal or snack from the microwave all day, like the cats did. Like others have said, microwaving for us just doesn't feel right for us. My husband is not a health concious person really. He thinks I go too overboard looking for healthy things and pointing out non-healthy ingredients in products. But even for him, he didn't like the research on microwaves either and was thrilled to rid of it. I think people should do whatever they want. Including microwaving. I am not trying to persuade either way, it's just not for us.


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## Dar

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Babina's Mommy*
> 
> Eh, I don't think it's the same study I originally read....here's part of it from http://owen.curezone.com/healing/trashmicrowave.html
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Andreas finishes up with a chilling story which I'll paraphrase. Russian scientists took thousands of healthy cats, and gave them nothing but nutritious and natural foods that had been heated in a microwave for just 1 minute. The result? In six months, all the cats were dead. When the scientists performed autopsies on some of the cats, they found that the animals had literally starved to death. The cells in their bodies contained no trace of nutrient components, even though the dead bodies looked well-fed. "Microwaves had turned their food into deadly poison."
> 
> 
> 
> That just kind of turned me off. Let me just say first off the reason why most of us aren't dead from microwaving though, is because we don't eat every single meal or snack from the microwave all day, like the cats did. Like others have said, microwaving for us just doesn't feel right for us. My husband is not a health concious person really. He thinks I go too overboard looking for healthy things and pointing out non-healthy ingredients in products. But even for him, he didn't like the research on microwaves either and was thrilled to rid of it. I think people should do whatever they want. Including microwaving. I am not trying to persuade either way, it's just not for us.
Click to expand...

The thing is... you have to consider the source. Anyone can write a book, or an article on the internet. A lot of the statements in this article are just blatantly false.

But don't believe me (or all of the peer-reviewed articles) to the contrary. I'd suggest that instead you try an experiment. The article claims that "microwave-treated water does not sprout seeds". That's an easy one to test. I suggest that you go buy six bean seeds, and plant each in a separate cup, and water three with water from your tap and three with water that someone has microwaved for a minute and then let cool. It would be best if you didn't know which water was which, so maybe you could get a friend to give you a gallon of plain water and a gallon of microwaved water and not tell you which was which until the end of the experiment.

It might be a lot of fun for your kids... heck, if anyone's kids are looking for a science fair project this year they could take it on!

Oh, and my 19 year old cat has her food microwaved every day and she's, well, 19... Mom2M's explanation of the cat food thing makes a lot more sense, and microwaving a serving of cat food for a minutes would definitely cook it thoroughly enough to destroy the taurine... as would cooking it in a saucepan. A few seconds is usually enough to take the chill off the food for Cozy, and then I stir it well... it makes it more palatable for her, and since she's a skinny old cat I indulge her a bit.


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## gracemamma

Thanks for the multiple cat study info, including skinny old cat study! I love the detailed and researched info here!


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## sapphire_chan

The microwaved water and plant theory is a lie. http://www.snopes.com/science/microwave/plants.asp and http://www.eclecticscience.net/experiments/001-microwave-plants/summary.html has the results of a larger double blind study.

And microwaves aren't banned in Russia anymore, so I find it suspicious that anti-microwave sites present the FORMER ban as evidence.


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## Mamja

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Xantho*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *savithny*
> 
> Well, since plants use radiation to MAKE food, and I eat plants, I guess my comfort level starts right there! I'm a big fan of UVA and UVB radiation, myself, since it warms the earth, makes plants grow, and helps me make necessary Vitamin D. Sure, too much of it DOES cause skin cancer, I guess ... but without it, we'd all die.
> 
> Long story short: There are lots of kinds of "radiation."
> 
> 
> 
> True... just choices of what you are comfortable with.
> 
> This is one of those hot topics that can *make one's blood boil. *
> 
> We do not use microwaves and haven't now for oh... 4 years. It personally just isn't in the cards for me. My research and my gut says it just feels wrong, so that is why it is a no go. I am so chemically sensitive that it is just one more bad energy out of my system.
> 
> Oh... I am also one of those who cares about what pans are used too.
Click to expand...

Well let's hope that blood isn't being boiled in a microwave! Sorry, I just couldn't resist.


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## ASkeptic

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Babina's Mommy*
> 
> Anyone read the study online about the cats being fed microwaved cat food? Yeah that's what did it for us.


No, I haven't read the study, and neither have you. I've read someone talking about the supposed study online, without a citation -- just like your post. I doubt the study exists, and I've come across several different versions of the story. The fact is, if there is such a study, you don't know the findings, you don't know how it was conducted, you don't know whether it was ever peer-reviewed or published, you don't know whether it might have later been retracted for shoddy methodology. Without a citation, you know *nothing*.

People, take note. If there's anything you don't like, all you have to do is make up a scary sounding study about it, and post vaguely about it online. Because nobody can find the study to refute it, the story will keep making the rounds forever, probably getting scarier as it goes. Why, look at this reference -- it doesn't even say what the results of the study were. It just says there's a study and we're left to infer that the results were scary.

In the most complex version I've found, and therefore probably the closest to the source, the cats were fed nothing but microwaved cat food for six months and died of insufficient nutrition, and there was a control group. Which suggests that the person who made up the study considerably underestimated the gullibility of the public and the general level of ignorance about science is done, since a lot of people have been repeating much less credible versions of the story. Such as the one I'm responding to here.

The real reason people don't like microwaves is that doing more work makes them feel virtuous.


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## elus0814

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ASkeptic*
> 
> The real reason people don't like microwaves is that doing more work makes them feel virtuous.


This is a really old thread but anyway.... the real reason I don't like microwaves is because I don't care for the way most foods cooked in them taste (mostly because of the texture). We don't have a microwave in the house anymore because it took up too much space for the twice a month it was used to soften butter. It has nothing to do with feeling virtuous about preparing 'slow foods'


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## JudiAU

Yes, I find it super convenient actually. It is my favorite ways to make purees because everything is cooked evenly and dishwasher ready. You do have to be careful about hot spots when reheating.


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## inkslinger

We have a microwave but don't use it a ton. I would rather use the toaster oven or stove to heat things up. We use the microwave occasionally but I'm not super comfortable with it. My H is really paranoid about it.


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## MERKIN17

Have you ever tasted microwaved food? If you did a taste test isnt the answer clear? Common sense?


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## marsupial-mom

I embrace technology that makes my life easier and has been proven safe. So yes, I use a microwave when cooking food for any age.

Check out this video about cooking methods and how well they destroy or preserve nutrients:


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