Anahad O’Connor, writing in his "The Claim" column, takes on the widely-held conviction that cooking vegetables in the microwave destroys valuable nutrients. The truth, O’Connor tells us, is that microwaving destroys far fewer nutrients than other means of cooking, largely because microwaving uses less of two things that destroy nutrients during cooking: heat and water.
O’Connor directs our attention to studies at Cornell University, which looked at the effects of cooking on water-soluble vitamins
in vegetables. That research found that spinach retained nearly all its folate
when cooked in a microwave, but lost about 77 percent when cooked on a
stove. it also found that bacon cooked by microwave has significantly
lower levels of cancer-causing nitrosamines than conventionally cooked bacon. O’Connor also points to a study published in The Journal of the Science of Food
and Agriculture in 2003 that found that broccoli cooked by microwave  and
immersed in water  loses about 74 percent to 97 percent of its
antioxidants. When steamed or cooked without water, the broccoli
retained most of its nutrients.
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Interesting, I have stayed away from microwaving foods and using water emersion for cooking methods.
Are there further studies on other foods other than vegetables and what about some frozen dinners. Todays dinners are not the same as our fathers.
Edmund
Draw not your bow till your arrow is fixed…
Well, I’m a little confused. So it’s ok to microwave spinach but not broccoli? Can steam broccoli but not boil it and ok to sautee it. I am allergic to a lot of fruit and I steam that as well and don’t microwave it. Any comments on this?
Why can I find no footnote to this study which is referenced on so many sites?
It may lessen the nutrients but not necessarily remove them. That’s what I think. Thanks for sharing.