• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer
The Healthy Home Economist

The Healthy Home Economist

embrace your right to a lifetime of health

Get Plus
  • Home
  • About
  • My Books
  • Shopping List
  • Archives
  • Log in
  • Get Plus
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Get Plus
  • Log in
  • Home
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Archives
  • My Books
  • Shopping List
  • Recipes
  • Healthy Living
  • Natural Remedies
  • Green Living
  • Videos
  • Natural Remedies
  • Health
  • Green Living
  • Recipes
  • Videos
  • Subscribe
Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Healthy Living / The Dangers of Microwave Cooking

The Dangers of Microwave Cooking

by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links ✔

Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
  • Microwave Cooking Dangers
  • Research on Microwave Cooking
  • Induction Stoves Cook Very Similarly to Microwave Ovens

microwave oven dangersIt’s interesting what people notice sometimes. In my last video blog, I posted a clip of me in the kitchen whipping up some homemade mayonnaise. One of the comments I received by email about the video asked me if I used my microwave, as this appliance features so prominently behind me as I am mixing up the mayo. 
Well, I’m here to set the record straight. I NEVER use my microwave for cooking or defrosting my family’s food. And I NEVER even use it to heat up water for a cup of herbal tea (I’ll get to the reasons in a minute).

Why then do I have one in my kitchen, you might ask? For one, my kitchen was built 12 years ago before I really knew of the dangers of cooking food with a microwave and if I pulled it out now, I’d have a big gaping hole in my wall and would have to redo all my kitchen cabinets. Not a project I’m up for at the moment.

Also, when we use a babysitter for evenings out, she sometimes likes to heat up her dinner with it. The first time this happened, you could hear the audible gasps of horror from me and the kids as she turned it on! We were shocked speechless. I declined to lecture her about the dangers of the microwave at the time, however. It didn’t seem appropriate given the circumstances. Maybe another time!

Ok, let me come completely clean. I do occasionally use the microwave to heat up a fabric bag filled with wheat kernels when any of my kids have a tummy ache. Since the bag is used externally only, this is considered a safe usage of this appliance in your home.

Microwave Cooking Dangers

Let me now briefly cover the reasons why you don’t want to use a microwave to cook your food – EVER. First of all, the manner in which the food or water is heated is completely unnatural and not found anywhere in nature. How this most dangerous appliance has received such widespread acceptance throughout the Western world without much research beforehand into the risks is beyond me. I guess it’s kind of like cell phones – folks who use microwaves have unwittingly allowed themselves to be guinea pigs in the interest of science. If being a lab rat is not your thing, then read on.

Unlike conventional heating which warms the food from without to within, microwave ovens heat internally by creating violent friction in the water molecules within the food. The force of the friction deforms the structures of the water molecules and they are literally torn apart. This process is called “structural isomerism”.

This is why even heating a cup of water for tea with a microwave is not a good idea! You may have seen the pictures of two plants – one watered with microwave heated/then cooled water and the other watered with conventionally heated/then cooled water. The difference in growth and robustness between the two plants is astonishing. You can check these pictures out at this link.

Dozens of people have conducted the same experiment on their own with different types of plants with similar results. The plant(s) watered with microwaved water do not thrive and/or die.

With the water molecules significantly impaired in quality, the molecular damage continues to expand to the food particles themselves as the heating continues. What has been discovered so far is that microwave heating has unfavorable effects on fats and proteins causing assimilation issues for the person who consumes the food. Microwaves are powerful enough to rupture the cell walls in the food; there is no doubt that fragile proteins are altered in the process. In addition, Swiss studies have shown that microwave heating causes unfavorable changes in vitamin content and the availability of these nutrients for absorption in the gut.

The radiation from microwave cooking destroys and deforms the food molecules and creates new compounds completely unknown in nature. Irradiation creates the exact same type of compounds in food as does microwaving – radiolytic compounds. With the majority of people seemingly against irradiation of food, why on earth are they then using a microwave at home or choosing to live near a cell phone tower for that matter?

Research on Microwave Cooking

Most troubling is the small, yet tightly controlled study by Dr. Hans Hertel of Switzerland. He discovered abnormal blood profiles in people who ate food cooked in a microwave as compared with people who ate the exact same food heated up conventionally. Dr. Hertel’s study is described in Tom Valentine’s book “Search for Health”. Since this book is pretty difficult to get hold of (last time I checked it out of the libary a few years ago, there was only one copy available in the entire state of FL and I had to wait six weeks for that copy to be couriered to my local library!), here is a link to an extensive description of Dr. Hertel’s study and the results:

Of course, who could forget the tragic story of Norma Levitt who in 1991 died from a blood transfusion during routine hip replacement surgery. The blood used in the transfusion was heated in a microwave, which was not standard practice. Blood is routinely warmed for transfusions, but never in a microwave! Clearly, microwaving the blood altered it into a state that proved to be deadly for Ms. Levitt. Imagine what microwaving your food does! Do you really think eating food heated in this way could be anything but dangerous and, at the very least, unhealthy?

Induction Stoves Cook Very Similarly to Microwave Ovens

Note also that the trend toward induction stoves is very troubling as the radiation produced from these ranges is similar to the risks from microwaves. Check out this article that details induction stove dangers and what you should look for instead to avoid an EMF hazard in your kitchen from inductive cooking.

One additional point to ponder as I close. Be very aware that microwaves are extensively used in the restaurant industry. They are also used almost exclusively in school cafeterias. Nearly every time you eat out, some, if not all, your food has been heated in a microwave. Just another reason for limiting your trips to eat out and spending time in the kitchen preparing your own meals and packing a lunchbox!

FacebookPinEmailPrint
Category: Healthy Living
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: Amazon #1 bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

You May Also Like

remouillage broth in a white bowl

The French Art of Remouillage for Real Food Savings

July is GAPS Month!

New Guidelines Aim to Double the Number of People on Statins

iPhone Appcessory Tests if Food is Really Organic

stock that gels

5 Reasons Why Your Stock Won’t Gel

Why Most Efforts to Heal the Gut Fail (and how to ensure yours succeeds 100%)

Feeling Tired More Than You Should?

Get a free chapter of my book Get Your Fats Straight + my weekly newsletter and learn which fats to eat (and which to avoid) to reduce sugar cravings and improve energy significantly!

We send no more than one email per week. You will never be spammed or your email sold, ever.
Loading

Reader Interactions

Comments (65)

  1. Fiona

    Dec 30, 2012 at 12:06 am

    I haven’t used a microwave to heat food for ages! However, my kids and husband will use it occasionally. I have said that when the microwave breaks we won’t be getting another one, however it seems like we have the LONGEST LIVED microwave of anyone I know! I’ve had it the darn thing 18 years now! (Maybe it just doesn’t get used enough anymore!!)

    Unfortunately, my husband doesn’t at all believe that microwaving food is bad for you… nothing I have shown him is yet to convince him.

    Reply
  2. Johnny

    Dec 8, 2012 at 4:11 am

    Teo The water is well water from a pretty clean sorcue in the southern Sierras at about 3500 ft elevation. I used some distilled water too but didn’t show the picture. They all sprouted at the same rate.Franken Thanks for the link. I agree, it doesn’t exactly follow from these little experiments that the microwave is A-OK.Amanda

    Reply
  3. Mrs H

    Sep 10, 2012 at 12:15 pm

    Oh and as to alternate uses of the microwave – it’s in our dining room still, and our midwives used it to heat up small towels when i was delivering my baby 🙂

    Reply
  4. Mrs H

    Sep 10, 2012 at 12:12 pm

    Food cooked in a microwave is just gross, anyway; I mean, I can’t tell the difference when I melt butter or something, but reheating leftovers always ends up with a nasty product. We use our toaster oven for that! We took our microwave out of our kitchen just because we didn’t like the food after it went through it, but it is interesting to see there are apparently health risks, too.

    When microwaves first came out, many people were opposed to them (my grandma, although she has one now, would not touch food that was heated in it!) and were wary of the seeming risks.

    Years later, we’re pretty accustomed to seeing them everywhere, and used to the convenience of them. But, it does seem a little hairy to cook your food by a method commonly known as “nuking” it!

    Reply
  5. Beth

    Aug 20, 2012 at 11:26 am

    I have a strange question–trying to get out of SAD mindset & embrace more natural foods & cooking methods which is difficult to transition as I didn’t grow up with traditional methods (memories of my nuking packets of instant flavored oatmeal in plastic bowls which changed colors when heated are haunting me) & get that heating up foods is just as easy over the stovetop or toaster oven which I can do at home, but I work fulltime away from home & thermos only keeps my soups hot about an hour. I can’t bring a toaster oven to my office I have found I can heat up soups by placing glass jars (got rid of plastic) in front of my space heater which slowly heats up over about an hour. Is there any contraindications in doing this? I don’t know the exact mechanism of space heaters, but assuming it’s just a forced air system of shooting out heat….thanks!

    Reply
  6. Amanda

    Apr 29, 2012 at 3:50 pm

    For some reason, I feel very sick when I eat microwaved food.

    Reply
    • Micky Mouse

      Jun 11, 2013 at 2:57 am

      That’s because your momma can’t cook.

  7. Paul

    Feb 16, 2012 at 1:00 pm

    I bought a wooden medicine cabinet that was made in India. One night I heard a munching noise from within one of the doors. I assumed it was some sort of exotic bug, removed the door which fit perfectly in our microwave, and set it for 6 minutes. The munching stopped; another practical microwave application.
    As usual, everything in moderation, and you will find the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

    Reply
  8. Veronica

    Feb 15, 2012 at 3:20 pm

    My sister uses her microwave to sanitize her sponges. I figure if it can kill bad germs it is probably killing the good nutrients too.

    Reply
    • Kayla

      Mar 13, 2014 at 11:05 am

      Put that sponge in the oven and the germs will be killed too. Its not the microwave killing them, its the heat.

  9. Honey Rowland

    Jul 25, 2011 at 4:52 pm

    We haven’t had a microwave for 8-9 years. I tore ours out as I figured how healthy can food be if you can’t stand in front of one? So…tore it out and in that space I added a lovely spot for cookbooks. Measure, go to lowes, pick out some nice wood (birch if staining), give them the sizes you need to line the hole (sometimes you don’t need to do this step as it’s finished but needs painted and to be trimmed/retrimmed.), grab some liquid nails or your finish nailer, tack/glue it, paint/stain, trim out…voila….no more microwave and a nice spot for cookbooks or your toaster oven.

    Honey
    Nice site. I’m enjoying it as I’m a recent/former vegan with pastured meat in the freezer and starting GAPS…

    Reply
« Older Comments
Newer Comments »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Sidebar

Mother Nature’s Medicine Cabinet

5 Secrets to a Strong Immune System

Loading

The Healthy Home Economist

Since 2002, Sarah has been a Health and Nutrition Educator dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. Read More

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Check Out My Books

Mother Nature’s Medicine Cabinet

5 Secrets to a Strong Immune System

Loading

Contact the Healthy Home Economist. The information on this website has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any disease. By accessing or using this website, you agree to abide by the Terms of Service, Full Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Affiliate Disclosure, and Comment Policy.

Copyright © 2009–2025 · The Healthy Home Economist · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc.