This Week In The HSI Forum

In a recent New Yorker magazine I saw a cartoon that gave me a chuckle. A woman was removing a plate of food from a microwave oven while calling into the living room, “Come and get it while the molecules are still vibrating!”

It’s an amusing cartoon, but it also serves as a reminder that
microwaved food is not quite the same as food cooked with a conventional heating source. And that’s a concern for an HSI member named Deloris who starts off a thread titled “Microwave Ovens” with a reference to an item she received from natural medical physician, Dr. Joseph Mercola. Deloris writes: “I’ve been using one for over 25 years, as I imagine many folks have.

If he’s right then its only my vitamins and supplements that
have kept me alive as I’ve lost a lot of nutrition in reheated
food, not to mention possibility of getting cancer. Any commentson this subject?”

ARE there! Deloris’ question has prompted almost 50 responses so far. And no surprise, given how common microwave usage is. Dr.Mercola’s article is just one of several he’s written about microwaves, and the information he covers can be generally summed up with this comment from HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., that appeared in the e-Alert “Micro Management” (1/27/03):

“What studies exist are all bad news for microwaving – they
universally describe some type of damage. One study showed breakdown of vitamin B-12 to inactive degradation products in microwaved foods. There’s also a problem with release of potentially toxic molecules into the food from packaging designed to help brown food during microwaving. This includes items such as pizza, French fries, waffles, popcorn and breaded fish.”

These unsettling details about microwaves generally go from bad to worse. A member named Brenda says that a source she trusts states that “microwaving food makes vitamins and minerals useless in every food tested and reduces the bioavalibility of many nutrients. It also renders meat proteins worthless.”

But the effect of microwaves on food is only part of the
problem. As a member named Bob points out: “One feature
overlooked about Microwaves (Radar ovens) is that they all leak around the door edges. Measuring with a Gauss meter, every microwave I tested leaked, and was detectable up to six feet away. Microwaves cause the body cells to heat up slightly, and whether this is dangerous or not is not yet known. If you insiston using your microwave, please always move at least six feet away while it is running.”

And as you might expect, this conversation eventually comes
around to the subject of microwaving popcorn. A member named Liz offers this age-old technique for those who may have forgotten or those who may have grown up knowing only the microwave variety of popcorn: “When I was a kid (before the days of microwaves or air poppers) my mom would heat a little oil or butter in the bottom of a pan on the stove, add the popcorn, put a lid on it, and shake the pan across the burner. Soon the popping would start and we would have popcorn that the salt would stick to. You have to keep the pan moving so the popcorn doesn’t scorch.”

And to that a member named Mari offers this pan-popping tip: “Coconut oil for popcorn–the only way to go–the best!”

The “Microwave Ovens” thread covers a wide range of topics related to cooking and nutrition and is a must-read for anyone who’s ever suspected that microwaving just might not be the healthiest way to cook.

Other topics being discussed on the HSI Forum this week
include:

• “Wheat free recipes”
• “Lard”
• “Vertigo”
• “Restless Leg Syndrome”
• “Cholesterol Myth”
• “Herniated Disk”

To join in with these or any other discussions about nutrition,
health issues, and natural therapies, log on to our web site at
www.hsionline.com.

And now It’s football time. And it’s getting pretty sweet
for those of us donning the purple and black. Last Sunday the Ravens made it official: This team is for real. With an offense that’s effective both on the ground and in the air, and a defense that believes they’re capable of stopping anyone (and probably are), the Ravens have developed into a force to be reckoned with. Next reckoning: Oakland Raiders. The Raiders have been struggling – even their coach has said they’re playing stupid football – but they’ll be hosting the Ravens in their notoriously noisy home field. And, at this point, they have nothing to lose. Will that be enough to stop Jamal Lewis or find their way around Ray Lewis? The way the two of them have been playing, the Raiders might wish they could be pulled into a real black hole.