Is microwaved food
unhealthy?
by Regina Reichardt
Summary
This article will examine the
question whether and if so,
why microwaved food could
be unhealthy. It will deal with
both the decrease of valuable
nutrients and the potential
survival of harmful salmonellas,
listerias, etc. After looking at
the dishware and microwave
ovens themselves for potentially
risky emanations and radiation
leakage, results will be summed
up in conclusions.
E M C E
Basic terminology
Let us start with a quick detour to achieve a better
understanding of how a microwave oven works.
The microwave oven is one of the big inventions of
the 20th century. Millions of households own one.
Microwave ovens are practical, because they are very
fast and, at the same time, very efficient in their use
of energy: They only warm the food, but not the dish-
ware containing it. Power levels between 500 and
1100 Watt are used; all devices allow the user to
select different power levels for different cooking pro-
cesses. However, regardless of the applied process-
ing, high-power microwaves are generated; for lower
levels they are pulsed over time, thus producing a
lower average heat.
It’s all in the name: This cooking method works by
applying microwaves. These are produced by a mag-
netrone inside the device and have frequencies of
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about 2.45 Gigahertz (GHz). Interestingly, they can
be absorbed by water, fat and sugar. By making sin-
gle molecules oscillate, (frictional) warmth, resp. heat
is generated. On the other hand, these waves are not
absorbed by plastics, glass or ceramics, and this is
the reason why these materials are not heated. Air is
also permeable to these waves, so that the tempera-
ture inside the microwave oven neither is changed.
As microwaves are reflected from most metals, they
must not be used.
You often hear that microwaves heat foods going
from the inside to the outside. But what does this
mean?
If you want to bake a cake in a conventional oven,
you use a temperature of about 220 degrees Cel-
sius. By selecting a higher temperature, for example
350 degrees Celsius, the cake would quickly burn on
the outside, whereas it would still be raw on the
inside. This is because in a conventional oven the
heat moves very slowly from the outside to the in-
side, the center of the cake. Due to the dry, hot air
inside the oven, the cake’s crust gets crisp, whereas
moistness is retained and the cake stays soft on the
inside, dependent on the length of baking time.
In a microwave oven, there is no heating from the
outside to the inside; instead, the waves penetrate
the food and the heat is evenly distributed. This pro-
cess is optimized by the rotating plate that is meant
to ensure even wave penetration by its slow move-
ment. The only exception is when so-called hot spots
develop due to interferences, small, extremely hot
areas – as well as corresponding cool spots, non-
heated areas. As the temperature inside a microwave
device equals that of its surroundings, even when in
operation, there will be no crust in this case, and
moisture can diffuse to the outside.
What does the term „unhealthy“ mean?
Does unhealthy mean that the food contains fewer or
no vitamins at all, antioxidants or other substances
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valuable to the human organism after cooking? Or
does it rather mean that damaging substances are
less often decomposed, resp. not eliminated at all,
or that even health endangering substances form due
to the method of cooking? Are electromagnetic waves
emitted by microwave ovens able to alter the food to
the effect that cellular changes occur not only in the
foods, but possibly even – as a consequence – inside
the person who eats it? And if so – that would be the
next logical question – is this only temporary, is it
permanent, or does it even lead to genetic change?
All this will be dealt with in the following.
Let us look at the different aspects one by one.
1. Can microwaving destroy
substances that are valuable
to the human organism?
Scientists of the CEBAS-CSIC Research Institute at
the University of Murcia, Spain, found out that micro-
waves can destroy nutrients in foods, especially so-
called antioxidants. As the New Scientist mentioned
in its October 25, 2003 issue, steaming is by far the
healthiest way to prepare vegetables – and microwav-
ing the worst.
There are three types of antioxidants: flavonoids, caf-
feoylquinic acid derivatives, and the so-called sinapi-
cs (also known as vitamins A, C, E and folic acid, etc.).
Antioxidants can scavenge harmful substances, called
free radicals, and thereby prevent an overload of
molecules which can provoke undesired chemical re-
actions. They occur in fiber and many fruits and vege-
tables, like e.g. broccoli, peppers and tomatoes. But
also: “Herbs contain large amounts of antioxidants.“
So herbs do not only add spice to foods, but also
contain large amounts of antioxidants and therefore
are very healthy.
In spring 2002, Wei Zheng and Shiow Y. Wang of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, USA, ex-
amined 39 different herbs for their antioxidant con-
tent. The pizza herb oregano came out on top in their
investigation: it showed the highest antioxidant activ-
ity of all examined herbs. The researchers published
their study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food
Chemistry (Vol. 49, p. 5165).
The antioxidant effect of oregano is eminent even
compared to fruits and vegetables that are known for
their large antioxidant content. Oregano has a 42
times higher antioxidant effect than apples, 30 times
higher than potatoes, and 4 times higher than blue-
berries. “One spoonful of oregano contains the same
amount of antioxidants as a middle-sized apple,“ Wang
explained. But other herbs like dill, peppermint, thymi-
an or sweet basil also have a comparably large anti-
oxidant content.
The secret behind the often lethal deficiency syn-
drome in infants and young children called Kwa-
shiorkor has been uncovered. In the view of a US
research team, a lack of antioxidants in the diet is
responsible for the children’s disease. At present,
about 40 million children are suffering from this dis-
ease worldwide – mainly in the Third World countries.
According to their report published in the Journal of
Pediatrics, scientists of the University of Florida (UF)
and the Washington University have examined urine
samples of young children from Malawi. Many indica-
tors of so-called oxidative stress caused by a lack of
antioxidants was found in children suffering from
Kwashiorkor. This leads to the destruction of healthy
body cells and a weakening of the immune system.
According to the researchers, it is an extreme type of
malnutrition deficiency where the children are also
affected psychologically – they become irritable, le-
thargic or apathic. Moreover, children have large sores
on the skin and a swollen belly. By preventing cell
damages caused by free oxygen radicals, antioxidants
can potect against this disease.
The Spanish research team around Cristina Garcia
Viguera compared the amount of preserved nutrients
– with a special focus on antioxidants – in broccoli
after it was either cooked by in a pressure cooker, in
E M C E
boiling water, in a water bath or in the microwave
oven. When steamed over water, the loss of cancer-
inhibiting antioxidants was small, whereas they were
almost fully eliminated in the microwave. Water bath
and conventional boiling destroyed clearly fewer anti-
oxidants than microwaving.
Expressed in numbers, it is as follows: Mild cooking
above hot steam decreases antioxidants only slight-
ly: 11 % of flavonoids and 8 % of caffeoylquinic acid
derivatives; sinapics are fully preserved. By compari-
son, the other two cooking methods result in large
amounts of antioxidants leaking into the boiling wa-
ter. Only 20 to 45 % of the antioxidant content is left
in raw broccoli after the vegetable was cooked in a
water bath or on the topstove. After microwaving only
3 to 25 % remain intact, depending on the type of the
device: “The microwave can destroy up to 97 % of
flavonoids, 87 % of caffeoylquinic acid derivatives,
and 74 % of sinapics.“
In boiling water, these substances are again drasti-
cally reduced due to the strong heat. If the water is
not used afterwards for preparing the food, the rest
of these substances is lost, too.
We shouldn’t forget that it is mostly convenience
food and/or frozen dinners that are prepared in the
microwave oven. Regarding the latter, the research-
ers performed another test: Vegetables that are
blanched before being frozen in order to preserve
their consistency and color, thereby alone lose about
an average of one-third of their antioxidants: carrots,
peas and broccoli about 30 % of vitamin C, green
beans 10 %, and spinach at 40 %. The latter also
shows a 40 % loss of potassium and a 70 % loss of
folic acid. The freezing process itself destroys, though
on a smaller scale, antioxidants (for spinach, never-
theless, about 30 % of folic acid).
Now you can calculate quite easily what is left of
valuable substances when broccoli – first blanched,
then freezed and heated in the microwave oven –
finally is being served.
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It is generally accepted in science that human breast
milk should not be warmed in a microwave oven. A
study of the Stanford University published as early as
in 1992, analysed microwaved human breast milk
and reached the conclusion that it loses its ability to
fight infections. Moreover, it is broken down extreme-
ly fast and escherichia coli bacteria thus can develop
(colon bacteria).
The scientists wrote: “Our research results show that
it is not appropriate to use a microwave oven for the
warming of human breast milk since it leads to a
significant loss of substances boosting the immune
system.“
The Children’s Nutrition Research Institute in Dort-
mund, Germany, supports this assessment based
on the fact that hot spots develop during microwav-
ing. In young children, they can cause burns to mouth
and esophagus, because hot spots are not detect-
able on the outside. An appropriate shaking of the
baby’s bottle can prevent this, though. On the other
hand – and this is vital – there is a loss of valuable
enzymes and nutrients even at temperatures between
30 and 50 degrees Celsius – enzymes and nutrients
that are extremely important for the child’s immune
system.
Therefore experts generally warn against warming
breast milk, but, in exceptional cases, recommend
bottle warmers equipped with thermostats by which
overheating is avoided.
All this shows that microwaved food is at least less
healthy than cooking by steam. Firstly, microwaving
directly causes a considerably higher loss of antioxi-
dants, and secondly, there are indirect consequenc-
es due to the fact that quite often foods, e.g. con-
venience or deep-frozen foods, are used that con-
tain less health promoting substances to begin with.
So human breast milk should never be warmed in
order to preserve substances boosting the immune
system and not promote the development of bacte-
ria.
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2. Are harmful substances less often
decomposed or not decomposed at all,
or do even new harmful substances
form in the microwave oven?
Microwave ovens do not always cook foods or din-
ners evenly due to the above mentioned interferenc-
es. The cool spots, i.e. areas that were not heated at
all or heated insufficiently, can become a reservoir
for bacteria, listerias or salmonellas, if frozen or
defrosted food is heated, or if food is used that was
not stored properly. Surviving microorganisms can
multiply explosively, if the food subsequently is stored
without cooling, and can thus be very harmful to hu-
man health (taken from “Spoiled“, by Nichols Fox,
Yearbook 1997).
“Beware of microwaved poultry!“ – that is the advice
of the Stiftung Warentest (German consumer protec-
tion agency) in its journal “test“, issue 2/2000. Po-
tential disease causing agents such as listerias and
salmonellas can survive in poultry that has been mi-
crowaved. The German Society of Nutrition therefore
warns against microwaving chicken & Co. The Federal
Institute for Consumer Health Protection as well rec-
ommends that inexperienced users cook poultry,
minced meat and egg dishes in a conventional oven
or on the stovetop.
Listerias are mostly found in raw milk products and
raw meat. They can cause fever, diarrhea, even men-
ingitis and miscarriages, especially in persons with
weakened immune systems. American researchers
cooked listeria-infested fresh chicken in a microwave
oven. Afterwards there was still evidence of listerias
in more than half of the samples, regardless of the
wattage, the size of the oven or the rotating plate.
Normally, cooking temperatures of more than 70 de-
grees Celsius kill such bacteria, but due to the un-
even heating that is typical of microwaves, they can
survive. Fish, chicken or eggs should therefore gener-
ally not be prepared in a microwave oven, even less
so if they are not consumed fresh.
Mints for using a microwave oven: To ensure that the
whole food reaches the required temperature of more
than 70 degrees Celsius, longer cooking times with
smaller power levels are preferable to short cooking
times with high wattage, and it is best to use an added
grilling function. Leave the food afterwards inside the
device for a few minutes so that temperatures can
level out. Frozen dinners have to be fully thawed be-
fore cooking (in the refrigerator would be best) in order
to be sufficiently heated on the inside.
And keep in mind that the same problem occurs if the
food is not sufficiently heated or cooked when using
conventional methods. This was confirmed by medical
researchers of the Department of Bacteriology at the
Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, UK, as early as
in 1995. Their findings were published in the report,
“Survival rate of salmonella species in poached eggs
using a microwave oven“ (J. Hosp. Infect. 1995 Feb;
29(2):121-7). They found out that there is a number of
potential bacteriological infections resulting from this
cooking method. The researchers thoroughly investi-
gated the survival rates of salmonellas in artificially
contaminated eggs comparing two known methods of
cooking: on the stovetop and in the microwave oven.
Six types of salmonellas from different immunological
test cultures were applied. The eggs were soft-boiled,
with the egg yolk still being runny. The conclusion was:
„Salmonellas can survive in soft-boiled eggs, regard-
less of the type, resp. of which immunological test
culture or which method of cooking is used.“
Moreover, the survival rate of these organisms is
directly proportional to the number of organisms orig-
inally found in the raw egg. However, if the eggs were
hard-boiled, harmful agents could not be found. So
the conclusion was: In truth, salmonellas did not
multiply due to the use of the microwave oven but
due to the fact that the eggs were infected to begin
with, and secondly, due to that they were still soft on
the inside, i.e. not sufficiently heated to kill the exis-
tent microorganisms.
E M C E
There is also potential harm to health associated
with the high temperatures caused by microwaves.
Especially liquids become very hot very fast in a mi-
crowave, at first containing hot spots. If these liquids
are consumed immediately, they can cause burns of
the esophagus and pain, resp. damage the stom-
ach’s lining. Different physicians wrote about this
topic in the August 13, 1998 “New England Journal
of Medicine“ issue.
Water can be “superheated“ in a microwave oven –
without forming bubbles. But if the container holding
the liquid, e.g. a cup, is moved, there may be an
explosion of these bubbles causing burns. To pre-
vent this, Ann Landers suggests (in the “Daily
Progress“, Charlottesville, Virginia, 12 July 2002) to
put a wooden stick or spoon in the container or sim-
ply wait for 30 seconds before taking the cup out of
the oven. Also, you should never put your hand or
face directly above the cup right after cooking.
What all this means is this: It is not the microwave
oven, per se, that is responsible for the health dam-
aging effects but being careless when using the cook-
ing device. In any case, you should always heed the
instructions supplied by manufacturers and, of course,
basic hygiene rules, for the benefit of your own health.
Some studies on the topic “Microwave ovens and
food quality“ also dealt with the question to what
extent damaging substances can be released or even
produced by microwaves. An important aspect is the
material of dishware. However, the packaging of foods
that it is often also prepared in is relevant, too.
During microwaving, plastic packaging and dishware
can melt, especially when fat is being used, or the
food can possibly absorb softeners, dioxins or other
toxic compounds. During the manufacturing of plastic
dishware quite often lead-containing colors are used.
The lead can be released during heating and pass
into the food. At the same time, the amount of re-
leased lead is dependent on the pH value of the
food, on the heat, resp. power level (wattage), and on
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the length of cooking time, as the researchers D.
Inthorn, O. Lertsupochavanich, S. Silapanuntakul, D.
Sugjirarat and B. Intaraprasong of the Department of
Environmental Health Sciences at the Faculty of Pub-
lic Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand,
found out at the end of 2002.
Even if the manfucturer recommends to use the pack-
aging for preparing the food, it should be heated only
over short periods of time. Various consumer protec-
tion organizations (see e.g. “Verbraucherreport zum
Garen in der Mikrowelle“ – Consumer report on micro-
waving, Health Newsletter, June 2001) recommend:
“For microwaving, you should use containers made of
heat-proof glass.“
On the other hand, the use of microwaves prevents
the formation of cancer-initiating benzopyrene that
will form during conventional cooking when the crust
is too dark, or if burnt food sticks to the bottom of
the pot.
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There are no substances „newly produced“ by micro-
wave ovens that may be harmful to health. But there
is much talk of radiation and its health-damaging prop-
erties in this context. We will more closely look at
this aspect in the next paragraph.
3. Do electromagnetic waves cause food
to become radioactive or leak out, the
field being dangerous to human health?
The German Federal Office for Radiation Protection
(Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz, BfS) has reported that
reliable experiments and investigations so far have failed
to produce evidence of damages in tissues or cells of
humans caused by the consumption of microwaved food.
Ongoing investigations of respectable scientists do nei-
ther provide any evidence of harmful effects.
Just to avoid misunderstandings: There is no radioac-
tivity in microwaved food, as is often wrongfully
claimed. As soon as the oven is switched off, there
are no microwaves either – neither inside the device,
nor in the food. One can compare this to visible light:
When the light switch is turned off, the light is gone.
The stories of radiation penetrating the food during
microwaving and remaining there, causing health dam-
ages during digestion, are just that: stories that are
neither physically plausible nor even possible at all.
In April 1995, D. Jonker and H.P. Til of the Dutch TNO
Nutrition and Food Research Institute in Zeist per-
formed the following experiment: 10 male and 10
female Wistar rats were feeded with a diet for hu-
mans. Part of the food was heated in a conventional
oven, the food for the other animals was microwaved.
Both “food types“ were then dry frozen, granulated
and enriched with vitamins and minerals. After that,
the rats were divided into two groups that were given
the differently prepared food over thirteen weeks.
Comprehensive tests done in the rats, especially re-
garding growth, multiplication, bone density, genetic
deficiencies, blood compounds, etc., showed no dif-
ferences regarding the used methods of cooking.
The Federal Office for Radation Protection also ad-
dressed this issue: According to the present state of
knowledge, there is no relevant change in health
caused by microwaved foods. Appropriate preparation
and heating of the food is vital, both regarding the
nutritional, physiological value and the hygienic qual-
ity of foods. The manufacturers’ instructions on using
a microwave oven therefore should be heeded at all
costs.
There is also the question whether it is true that
microwaves leak out and can hurt people in the vicin-
ity. Remember that there are no waves, neither in-
side the device nor outside, as long as the device is
switched off.
Recommendations as to not operate the device as
long as it is empty are not meant as a warning that
radiation will leak out, but only to protect the device
itself since undesired reflection – due to the fact that
it is empty – can destroy the magnetrone.
E M C E
The ICNIRP (International Commission on Non-Ionis-
ing Radiation Protection) has published guidelines on
radiation leakage in 1998. Various countries, as well
as the International Electrotechnical Commission
(IEC), the International Committee on Electromagnet-
ic Safety (ICES), the Institute of Electrical and Elec-
tronic Engineers (IEEE), and the European Committee
for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) have
established a limit of 50 Watt per m² which should
not be exceeded outside a range of 5 cm from the
surface of the microwave oven.
After performing extensive and representative mea-
surements in microwave devices, the BfS concluded:
“There is no cause for concern about health-damag-
ing effects from radiation leakage. It is below limits
by a thousand-fold.“ Although leakage was measured
for all devices surrounding the window and the doors,
it was very small. At the usual areas surrounding the
microwave oven the (just) detectable radiation was
below legally prescribed limits by more than a thou-
sand-fold. Therefore there are no health dangers from
intact devices.
4. Final conclusion
Our observations on the different aspects of the top-
ic: “Is microwaved food unhealthy?“, can be summed
up as follows.
Microwaved food is unhealthy because
• often low-value, pre-processed food and frozen food
containing fewer „healthy“ substances are used,
and
• microwaved foods have a considerable loss of impor-
tant antioxidants due to the method of cooking.
However, microwave ovens are not harmful, since
• microwaves do not leak out, resp. potential radia-
tion leakage is far below limits, and
• according to the state-of-art science and research,
microwaving neither makes foods radioactive nor
does it change them to the effect that human health
is impaired.
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 R e s

Critical observ
of Bo
When heeding basic hygienic rules and the manufac-
turers’ instructions, other dangers such as toxication
(use of wrong dishware), diseases caused by salmo-
nellas, etc. (insufficient heating), and burns (care-
lessness) can also be excluded. In fact, all these
problems can also occur when using other cooking
methods.

Dipl. Ing. Regina Reichardt, Forschungsgemeinschaft Funk, Bonn

Literatur/Quellen
• Stiftung Warentest, test 10/2002: www.warentest.de
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/www.ernaehrung.de
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• Medizin – 14.12.2000; „Mangel an Antioxidantien Ursache
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