Dr. Arikawe Adeolu, a Medical Practitioner at the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, Abuja, said no medical research has proven that microwave emits harmful substances in food or human body.
Adeolu told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Tuesday that such reports were unfounded as they had no credibility or authentic research to prove it.
He said the microwave oven was safe to use for heating food, adding that the appliance did not emit any chemicals or change consistency of food.
He said: “The microwave in itself is a particular kind of wave, which is in the invisible part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
“What happens is that when this wave is directed at a particular object, it causes the object to vibrate.
“The vibration of the molecules within this object causes some form of friction among themselves, which now generates heat.
“This is how it is able to heat up food.
“The design of the microwave oven is done in such a way that the entire wave generated is contained within it.
“That is why once you open the door of the microwave, it stops working.
“This is to prevent the heat generating microwave from getting to your body.
“So everything is done in such a way that it is contained within that box and it does not get out and if anything is getting out, it is totally harmless to the human body.
“Microwave oven, with its safety precaution in design, has not been shown to have any direct effect on the body.
“It does not alter our food, the only thing it does to the food is heat it up.”
However, Adeolu said the health risk associated with using the appliance was that sometimes microwaves may not heat up the inner parts of food and so would not kill any disease causing organisms that may be present in the food.
Adeolu said the appliance could also burn the individual using it if care was not applied while using it, especially when trying to retrieve the food from the microwave immediately after use.
He advised against placing metallic objects in the microwave as the metal could not absorb microwave, hence the oven could be damaged or explode in the process.
He added: “It is not advisable to put in any metallic thing in the microwave and even foil paper because it can also damage the appliance.
“The best containers to use in microwave is ceramic and in some instances some people use plastic but the problem with using plastic is that in certain situations if the heat is too much the plastic can melt and may catch fire.”
NAN.
