What is Microwave Oven and how does it work ?

As we learned from Jim Gaffigan, microwaves don't always heat food evenly, sometimes leaving cold pockets next to hot pockets. If you're working with raw meat, this can be dangerous, since it could leave harmful bacteria.

Since we can't very well grow people in controlled lab experiments, it's very difficult to sort out the various risks we might get from fields emitted from power lines, cell phones, airplane flights, computers, clock radios, and of course microwave ovens

The prevailing view is that microwaves do not alter foods in ways that are any more deleterious or harmful than other types of cooking. In fact, some have argued that the faster cooking time may actually preserve more nutrients versus other methods.

1. Microwave Ovens Were Discovered Accidentally

2. There Is Dissent Over How Microwaves Actually Heat Food

3. Microwave Ovens Cook Food from the Inside Outside

5. Microwave Ovens are Energy Efficient Ways to Cook

6. You Can't Heat Oils in a Microwave

7. Heating Plastics in a Microwave Can Be Dangerous

8. Boiling a Cup of Water in a Microwave Can Cause It to Explode

9. Microwave Cooking Can Be Unsafe Because It Doesn't Heat Evenly

10. Microwaves Leak Unsafe Levels of Electromagnetic Radiation

11. Microwaves Alter Food in Undesirable, Possibly Unsafe, Ways

It's a fact of life that any type of cooking changes the chemistry of food. It can reduce the levels of some nutrients, just as it can increase the levels of others (e.g. lycopenes), or make them more or less available to the body for use. (Raw food anyone?)

The prevailing view is that microwaves do not alter foods in ways that are any more deleterious or harmful than other types of cooking. In fact, some have argued that the faster cooking time may actually preserve more nutrients versus other methods.

In an interview with TDG, mechanical engineer Mark Connelly, the deputy technical director of Consumer Reports, said that the vast majority of microwave ovens his group has tested have shown "very little leakage of radiation."

Connelly echoed the advice of the FDA, which is that if people are concerned, they can simply step away from a microwave oven when in use.

As we learned from stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan, microwaves don't always heat food evenly, sometimes leaving cold pockets next to hot pockets.

If you're working with raw meat, this can be dangerous, since it could leave harmful bacteria.

To avoid this risk heat water only the minimum amount of time needed.

Or place a wooden spoon or stick in it (you should be fine with a metal spoon too, as we discussed above. Don't use a metal fork though, which could spark.)

The safest course of action is to avoid putting any plastics in the microwave. When the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tested plastics labeled microwave-safe and advertised for infants.

Even those were found to release "toxic doses" of Bisphenol A when heated in a microwave.

The amounts detected were at levels that scientists have found cause neurological and developmental damage in laboratory animals," the paper reports.

Oils such as olive oil do not heat well in microwaves because their molecules lack the polarity found in water.