As our world is constantly developing due to the advancement of technology, many question the safety of the changes we are making. Microwaves made their first introduction into homes in 1967 and are now staples of households around the world. With the intense speed of warming up food, many were enthralled, but some began to have concerns about the safety of this invention. As the internet has grown, there have been two main concerns about microwaves that have been posed by the public. First off, microwave skeptics argue that microwaving foods removes all of the nutrients within the food. Secondly, questioners argue that microwaves emit harmful radiation that can potentially lead to diseases such as cancer.  

Reviewing the idea that microwaving foods completely kills the nutrients within food, scientists note that while microwaving food does reduce some of the nutrients within food, the nutrient reduction is approximately equivalent or actually less in comparison to other cooking methods.  

“It is true that cooking food by any method does tend to cause some of the nutrients to break down,” says Anthony L. Komaroff, Professor of Medicine at Harvard. “However, microwave cooking is actually one of the least likely forms of cooking to damage nutrients. That’s because the longer food cooks, the more nutrients tend to breka down, and microwave cooking takes less time.”  

Addressing the second claim that microwaves release harmful radiation that can cause diseases like cancer, scientists state that non-ionising radiation generated by microwaves is unharmful to humans. Scientists also explain that radiation is not something to be always afraid of, as not all radiation is created equal. Nuclear radiation is completely different from the radiation that is generated from your phone or the sun.  

“Microwaves emit non-ionising radiation; a type of radiation that has enough energy to move atoms around within a molecule but not enough to remove electrons,” an article by The Health Sciences Academy states. “Because the radiation from microwaves is non-ionising, it can only cause molecules in the food to move. This is good! In other words, microwave radiation cannot alter the chemical structure of food components.”  

This article describes that the radiation created by microwaves is simply used to move water molecules within foods in order to generate friction that heats up the food. A food with minimal water molecules would likely have a more difficult time heating up than others with higher amounts of water molecules.  

Ultimately, research by scientists suggests that microwaves should be used without anxiety about detrimental effects.