posted June 26, 2008 12:13 PM         

According to Dr. Cristina Garcia-Viguera, co-author of the study, microwaved broccoli loses 97 percent, 74 percent, and 87 percent of the three major cancer-protecting antioxidant compounds (flavonoids, sinapics and caffeoyl-quinic derivatives). By comparison, steamed broccoli loses 11 percent, 0 percent and 8 percent of the very same antioxidants. In a 1992 article in the journal Pediatrics, a team of researchers from Stanford University reported that re-heating human breast milk in a microwave oven – even at a low setting – can destroy some of its important disease-fighting capabilities. Specifically, it lost lysozyme, which protects against bacterial infection. The fact that adverse changes were found at very low temperatures suggested to the researchers that “microwaving itself may in fact cause some injury to the milk above and beyond the heating”. Vitamin B-12 is another nutrient that can be destroyed by microwaving. Japanese research reported in Science News in 1998 found that as little as six minutes of microwave cooking destroyed half of the vitamin B-12 in dairy foods and meat, a much higher rate of destruction than other cooking techniques. Microwaving baby formula is also a problem, according to Dr. Lita Lee of Hawaii in the Lancet medical journal in 1989. She wrote that microwaving baby formula converts certain trans-amino acids into synthetic substances like trans-fatty acids. Further, one of the amino acids, L-proline, converts to a substance known to be poisonous to the nervous system and to the kidneys. Learn more: Natural Life Magazine

Dr. Hans Ulrich Hertel, who is now retired, worked as a food scientist for many years with one of the major Swiss food companies that do business on a global scale. A few years ago, he was fired from his job for questioning certain processing procedures that denatured the food. In 1991, he and a Lausanne University professor published a research paper indicating that food cooked in microwave ovens could pose a greater risk to health than food cooked by conventional means. An article also appeared in issue 19 of the Journal Franz Weber in which it was stated that the consumption of food cooked in microwave ovens had cancerous effects on the blood. The research paper itself followed the article. On the cover of the magazine there was a picture of the Grim Reaper holding a microwave oven in one of his hands. Dr. Hertel was the first scientist to conceive and carry out a quality clinical study on the effects microwaved nutrients have on the blood and physiology of the human body. His small but well controlled study showed the degenerative force produced in microwave ovens and the food processed in them. The scientific conclusion showed that microwave cooking changed the nutrients in the food; and, changes took place in the participants' blood that could cause deterioration in the human system. Hertel's scientific study was done along with Dr. Bernard H. Blanc of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the University Institute for Biochemistry. read the rest of the study

Here's an experiment you can do at home. Plant seeds in two pots. Water one pot with water that has been microwaved, the other with regular tap. The seeds that received microwaved water won't sprout. If microwaved water can stop plants from growing, think of what microwaved food can do to your health! View photos of plant experiment: Microwaved Water and Plants

posted June 26, 2008 12:14 PM         

Click to view full article and photos

Microwaved Water and Plants

Below is a science fair project that my granddaughter did for 2006. In it she took filtered water and divided it into two parts. The first part she heated to boiling in a pan on the stove, and the second part she heated to boiling in a microwave. Then after cooling she used the water to water two identical plants to see if there would be any difference in the growth between the normal boiled water and the water boiled in a microwave. She was thinking that the structure or energy of the water may be compromised by microwave. As it turned out, even she was amazed at the difference.
Below are the pictures that were actually submitted with the project. Some of them were created with photoshop for the science fair presentation from the original photos, so the display would be consistant and easy to follow. The actual original photos are posted at the bottom with thumbnails. They are thumbnailed because the original photos were extremely high resolution. Marshall Dudley