Andreas Yilma – Special to the Southern News
People don’t always have the time to cook food with a stove. In today’s busy world, people resort to a microwave for its time convenience. According to the Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications, and Computation, more than 95 percent of Americans own a microwave. However there are many studies that show microwaves may not be as valuable in human health as they are with time.
There are three scientific studies from the National Center for Biotechnology Information that displayed microwaves took away nutrients from certain foods. The studies concluded negative effects on garlic, milk, and protein. There was another study done in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture that showed the same result for broccoli
“It’s great for further studies,” said SCSU professor Evan Finch, “Getting nutrients is very important.”
Professor Finch has a doctorate in physics. He believes the studies are great. However he doesn’t necessarily think microwaves are bad for people. Finch points out when it comes to cooking with a microwave, you get hot spots. You might kill some nutrients in those spots according to Finch.
“I definitely think there are things to follow up on there.” Finch said.
LWT Food Science and Technology conducted a microwave study as well last year. Their test subject of food was foal meat. The study’s conclusion was that microwaving presented the highest cooking loss when compared to roasting, grilling, and frying with olive oil.
“Your species of humans ate raw foods for hundreds of thousands of years,” said SCSU professor Eric Anderson, “if you do anything to modify the foods, it’s not good.”
With a bachelor’s degree in physics, Anderson believes excessive modification to foods, that human beings mostly ate raw for hundreds of thousands of years, makes people vulnerable to diseases.
“I think microwaves can take away important nutrients from food.” Said Veronica Egas.
Sophomore, Spanish major, Veronica Egas believes the government should do more investigating about the microwaves on the food. She even thinks people should eliminate microwaves, if there are more studies that prove microwaves are bad for food.
“Maybe I should start warming up the milk on the stove.” Said Egas.
“Any kind of modification of food you have for a species from what they originally had for so long is going to have some type of negative consequence.” Said Anderson
Microwaves have been in existence for over three decades. However the longevity of a product shouldn’t necessarily equate to the safety of it. These studies heavily prove the need for further future studies. These instruments used to heat food have a possibility to be bad for human health.
“It’s going to have a negative effect.” Said Anderson
Photo Credit: zpeckler
Editor’s note: Correction made Feb. 21. Professor Eric Anderson has a B.S. in physics, not a doctorate as previously noted.