A complete article on the harmfulness of the microwave oven ... brrrr ....
Practical side: cooking without fat, time saving realized, ease of use, very convenient to defrost: yes but at what price?
In 1945, the war having ended brutally, magnetron stocks were high, especially in the United States. (The magnetrons are the pulse generators producing radar waves.) It was as a result of the skin burns of the personnel using the radars that an American firm thought about recycling its stock of magnetrons. Some researchers, such as Dr. Percy-Spencer, allowed the manufacture of industrial and then household furnaces.
The principle of using the microwave is still mysterious for many of us. Yet everyone knows that a hot body is a body whose molecules are in motion. It is therefore sufficient to agitate molecules to increase the temperature. The magnetron takes care of it. This electron tube produces electromagnetic waves: microwaves, which owe their name to their mini wavelength (from 1 to 3 mm).
Normally, in the microwave oven, several devices prevent their leakage: the metal grid, which returns them towards the inside of the oven, the glass door, also metal-framed that bar the passage, the joints that border this door By providing sealing, of cavities called "wave traps" from which they do not emerge. When the ovens operate, these waves agitate the water molecules of the food very quickly, causing them to heat up: "microwave ovens use electromagnetic waves of very high frequency: 2450 megahertz (for a kiln calibrated to 2,45 Ghz) a wavelength close to that of military radars, which means that in one second, the water molecules contained in the food placed in the furnace change 2,45 billion of orientation time, resulting in friction Intense intentions which are at the origin of the warm-up.
Now, all our foods contain water and an apple cooked in less than two minutes! On the other hand, bodies that do not contain water (glass, glass ceramic, plastic ...) do not heat: this explains the first danger of these ovens: the burns of infants. The bottle thus heated appears fresh but the milk it contains reaches the 80 ° C!
THE NEFAST EFFECTS OF MICROWAVE OVENS ON OUR HEALTH
1 - leaks
The ovens are never completely watertight. Professor Jean Paul Pellissier of Claude Bernard University in Lyon, monitors their leaks in the microwave research laboratory: "These leaks are particularly dangerous when they occur on industrial devices, much more powerful than those used in The kitchens, and before which workmen stand eight hours a day.
For example, this machine, forty times more powerful than yours, is used to stick the wood and its entrance is always open since a worker is constantly pushing boards.
In this type of work, the leakage of waves could present a real danger of burning. But as far as the housewife is concerned, Professor Pellissier wants to be reassuring: "Of course, there are minimal leaks at this level, but they are of the order of 1 to 5 milliwatts per cm². "
Yet Professor Herbert Koning of the University of Munich, who tested new kilns, just out of the factory, says that 15% of them have leaks above tolerable standards! And this does not manage over the uses.
Roger Santini, a researcher in the laboratory of pharmacodynamic physiology of INSA (National Institute of Applied Sciences), is worried: "in time, joints degrade, wave traps get clogged and users" clink " Levels! ".
For example at eye level. One has to worry when the children stick their face to the door to watch turn the dishes! Metal prosthesis wearers should also be wary of possible heat build-up, and attention should be drawn to the potential damage to the pacemaker in the event of leakage.
For all these reasons, Roger Santini wishes to impose on the manufacturers an after-sales service ensuring the safety of the users.
In the meantime, there are small leak detectors (sold at a reasonable price) in the supermarkets which are sufficiently reliable for a household user.
But microwave waves have other specific effects that have been described as early as 1956 on soldiers exposed to radars. These various effects can be characterized by:
Hyperthermia: Gays and Jonhson demonstrated in 1972 that microwave energy is unevenly distributed: the energy absorbed can therefore cause local thermal stimulation or macroscopic effects on different organs depending on the level of exposure.
The eye: the ocular lesions caused by microwaves seem to be mainly of thermal origin. However, non-thermal effects can not be excluded, but they do not appear to be sufficient to cause ocular lesions, although they can provide an interaction mechanism essential to the formation of lesions. People with contact lenses may be prone to eye inflammation, the lenses concentrating the waves in the eyes.
Neuro-Endocrine / Nervous System Effects: Several elements of the neuroendocrine apparatus exhibit extreme sensitivity at room temperature so that the effects of microwaves with low energy density can be explained by sensitivity to Small variations in temperature. These effects are fatigue, asthenia, dizziness, instability of mood, confusion, insomnia ...
The alteration of the electroencephalogram as well as the appearance of convulsions in workers exposed to microwaves for more than three years in the course of their work have been observed.
Blood system and immunocompetent cells: Deichman (1964) Kotkouska and Waak (1975) found numerous disorders: hyperleukocytosis (increase in the number of white blood cells), decreased concentration of erythrocytes (blood cell transporting oxygen from lungs to tissues) , And hemoglobin, lymphocytosis (increase of lymphocytes: the lymphocytes are the cells of the immune system, responsible for the defense reactions of the organism against the substances that it considers foreign), etc ... The modification of the number of the globules White or red appears to depend on the applied dose. The effects would be due to the thermal stress imposed by irradiation.
Disturbance of the hormonal system / reproduction and development: this leads to irregularity, disruption of the menstrual cycle and even disappearance of menstruation in women who are accidentally exposed to high doses.
Irradiation can affect reproductive and developmental mechanisms. Experimentally we find lesions in the testicles and in particular an alteration of the spermatogenesis. It should also be borne in mind that these frequencies affect blood and microorganisms (molecular chain, amino acids ...) and penetrate the fat on nearly 5 cm, the brain between 0,5 and 1 cm, the spinal cord being affected in Its totality. It is obvious that injuries will only be felt after a certain amount of exposure time.
For years, the Americans have established a maximum allowable power density of 5 milliwatts per cm² for microwave ovens leaving the factories, the Soviets of 1 microwatt per cm². Yet in France, there are still no standards.
2 - denatured foods
Even more serious than leaks, these devices denature the food. The sensitive crystallization test (for more information) shows that the microwave oven is the most common way to disrupt the food and alter its vital energy.
After a long study, Madame Bourgeay Causse of the Institut Pasteur concluded that tastes changed little after this type of cooking. In 1989, the British accused the microwave of causing food poisoning.
A study done on the other hand shows that bacteria such as listeria or salmonella are not destroyed after heating.
Professor Joyeux of the University of Montpellier describes the disturbances in the structures: "microwaves deplete food in water-soluble vitamins of group B and group C which are quite unstable vitamins. "
But the most disturbing is revealed in a study published by the very serious medical journal "The Lancet" and carried out by Austrian researchers from the Department of Pediatrics of the University of Vienna (Austria).
Milk samples were heated in the microwave and analyzed. Some proteins have been altered in their structure: for example, L-Proline has become D-Proline, a neurotoxic product. The Austrian researchers (Lubec Wolf and Bartosch) also note a new toxicity in the kidneys and liver due to the amino acids thus transformed.
A Japanese study (1968) showed that the fatty acids undergo (peroxidation) a peroxidation - oxidation of the fats by the free radicals. This reaction is the cause of many diseases, in particular cardiovascular diseases. We speak of peroxidation in the language of chemists or of rancidity according to the vocabulary of housewives - with formation of free radicals (cellular aging, atherosclerosis, activation of the process of cancerisation.
3 - Remaining waves
Finally, it should be noted that the food still radiates for about 10 mn after leaving the oven.
Ingurgities during this period, they are likely to lead to digestive disorders. Everyone knows how much water is in the human body, so let's imagine the damage! And when you see mothers heating baby bottles in their microwaves, you may wonder if babies so "treated" will not suffer A disadvantage as to their future health: this molecular agitation interferes with our own cells according to modalities that are still ill-defined but certainly disturbing (there would be, in particular, production of free radicals in the cells of the consumer, in addition to those Formed in the food).
This type of cellular interaction is all the more sensitive in a growing organism, and therefore in children (intense synthesis during the first months of life: we know that milk proteins are undermined by microwaves , But what happens in the baby whose bottle is heated so no one knows)!
Thus, taking into account the risks of electromagnetic pollution due to the effects of microwave waves, as well as the deterioration of the food by internal cooking at high temperature and vibration, as well as the very probable harms of the microwave, Persistent molecular agitation during ingestion, it seems expensive to pay the time that one is supposed to gain compared to methods of cooking without fats which, they, respect the food and preserve the health.
Article written by Catherine Martinez relayed by Cuisiner Autrement