Convenience drives many things these days. The value placed on good health is often sacrificed in the name of getting things done quickly and easily.
Microwaves can sadly be found in most homes. We say sadly, because not only does food cooked in a microwave oven never taste quite right, it is proven to have a lower nutritional value, and more importantly, poses a risk to long term health.
There are many causes for the increase in serious health conditions in the Western World, demineralized soils, environmental toxins, processed foods, poor nutrition, medical malpractice, the list goes on. But standing proud in the vast majority of kitchens, is the Microwave Oven, which may well play an underestimated role.
Raw food offers significantly higher levels of nutrition than cooked, and it is advisable to include at least some raw food elements in your diet, even if you don't wish to follow an entirely raw diet.
Microwaved food is a long way from being a source of nutrition.
How Do Microwaves Cook Food?
Evidence is growing of the risks to human health from microwaves emitted by mobile phones and phone masts. The underlying reason being that the cells in your body are disrupted by the EMF frequencies. The same thing happens to food in a microwave oven.
When food is cooked normally, heat goes naturally from the outside to the inside. The reverse is true of microwaved food. Food is cooked from within the cells and a violent process takes place that completely alters the chemical structure of any substance cooked this way. Microwaves bombard the food and cause molecules to rotate millions of times a second.
The structure of the molecules are literally deformed and destroyed, and new, unnatural compounds are created, these compounds cannot be broken down by the human body. Vitamins, minerals and proteins are rendered useless, foods lose their bio-availability, and their energy field is altered.
Of further concern is the leaching of chemicals from the plastic containers / wraps used to microwave food.
Of course, many scientists, and bodies such as the FDA will tell us this is nonsense, but forward thinking people in the scientific community are growing in numbers, and those of interested in natural health and healing are quick to understand that this unnatural process has no place in the pursuit of good health.
The Risks of Microwaves - Studies
Research is dreadfully lacking in this important area, and of course there are political aspects to this; however, we include below some very pertinent research that has been carried out.
You may be surprised to discover that Microwave technology is over 70 years old. The technology was originally developed by the Germans during the Second World War as a radar system. Soldiers who gathered around these radars to warm themselves up developed illnesses including Cancer. It was this ability to heat that led to the Humboldt University in Berlin being given a grant in the early '40s to develop microwave ovens to provide hot meals for soldiers fighting in the Soviet Union.
Just like the soldiers who huddled around the radars, these soldiers also had major problems with their immune systems. The use of Microwaves was subsequently banned. The research fell into the hands of the Russians and research continued through the 50s and 60s. In 1976, the Soviet Union themselves issued a state law banning the use of microwave ovens, and published an international statement of warning. They came back into use during the period of Perestroika, but even today, the Russians remain far more vigilant about the acceptable use of microwaves.
Hans Hertel, a Swiss food scientist, (fired for questioning food processing methods), is well known for a small, but carefully controlled study on Microwave ovens.Working with Bernard H. Blanc of the University Institute for Biochemistry, the results were published in 1992 and are certainly fascinating.
The eight study participants were strict macrobiotic eaters from the Macrobiotic Institute at Kientel, Switzerland. In intervals of two to five days, the volunteers in the study received one of the eight foods listed below. Blood sample were taken on an empty stomach before each meal, and at set intervals after eating.
- raw milk from a biofarm
- the same milk conventionally cooked
- pasteurized milk from Intermilk Berne
- the same raw milk cooked in a microwave oven
- raw vegetables from an organic farm
- the same vegetables cooked conventionally
- the same vegetables frozen and defrosted in the microwave oven
- and the same vegetables cooked in the microwave oven
- Blood tests after the consumption of microwaved foods showed marked changes in the following;
- Haemoglobin values decreased
- Lymphocytes (white blood cells) showed a short-term decrease
- HDL (good cholesterol) decreased
The ratio of good to bad cholesterol (LDL) was affected negatively. These results got worse in the second month of the study. Quoting Hertel - "There is extensive scientific literature concerning the hazardous effects of direct microwave radiation on living systems, it is astonishing, therefore, to realise how little effort has been made to replace this detrimental technique of microwaves with technology more in accordance with nature.
Although only a small study, these results should have been enough to prompt further research. However, as is often the way with these things, a large trade organization, the Swiss Association of Dealers for Electro apparatuses for Households and Industry, known simply as FEA, forced a 'gag order' through the courts against Hertel and Blanc in 1993. This was finally lifted in 1998 by the European Court of Human Rights, who held that there had been a violation of Hertel's rights in the 1993 decision.
"Effects of Microwave Radiation on Anti-infective Factors in Human Milk". Quan, Kerner, et al appeared in the In the journal Pediatrics (vol. 89, no. 4, April 1992). "Breast milk can be refrigerated safely for a few days or frozen for up to a month; however, studies have shown that heating the milk well above body temperature-37°ree;C-can break down not only its antibodies to infectious agents, but also its lysozymes or bacteria-digesting enzymes"
The November 2003 issue of The Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculturereported that microwaved Broccoli lost 97% of its antioxidant chemicals it contains, compared to a loss of 11% from steamed broccoli
Dr. Lita Lee of Hawaii reported in the December 9, 1989 Lancet: "Microwaving baby formulas converted certain trans-amino acids into their synthetic cis-isomers. Synthetic isomers, whether cis-amino acids or trans-fatty acids, are not biologically active. Further, one of the amino acids, L-proline, was converted to its d-isomer, which is known to be neurotoxic (poisonous to the nervous system) and nephrotoxic (poisonous to the kidneys). It's bad enough that many babies are not nursed, but now they are given fake milk (baby formula) made even more toxic via microwaving."
In Comparative Study of Food Prepared Conventionally and in the Microwave Oven, published by Raum & Zelt in 1992, at 3(2): 43, "A basic hypothesis of natural medicine states that the introduction into the human body of molecules and energies, to which it is not accustomed, is much more likely to cause harm than good. Microwaved food contains both molecules and energies not present in food cooked in the way humans have been cooking food since the discovery of fire. Microwave energy from the sun and other stars is direct current based.
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. Production of unnatural molecules is inevitable. Naturally occurring amino acids have been observed to undergo isomeric changes (changes in shape morphing) as well as transformation into toxic forms, under the impact of microwaves produced in ovens".
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