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Flax Oil, Myatt Muffins and Microwaves – A reader Asks
Written by Wellness Club on July 8, 2009 – 1:24 pm -By Nurse Mark
It never ceases to amaze me the power that urban legend has to alter peoples behavior. The microwave cooker or "oven" has been accused of all sorts of evil based on nothing more than superstition, misinformation, and urban legend. The fact that it is common for people to refer to the cooking process as to "nuke it in the microwave" has helped to perpetuate the confusion between the non-ionizing radiation of the microwave and the ionizing radiation of such things as atomic bombs, plutonium, and x-ray machines.
Folks, things like atomic bombs, plutonium, and x-ray machines are indeed quite bad for us, to say the least – they are sources of ionizing, destructive radiation. But let’s not react unthinkingly to the word ‘radiation’ – for it simply describes something very, very common: when we speak we "radiate" sound. Our living bodies radiate heat. A light bulb radiates light and heat, as does a campfire or a candle. The electric element or gas burner in your stove radiates heat. Your television radiates light, sound, heat, and EMF or Electro Magnetic Fields which can be measured in units called Gauss.
None of these common forms of radiation are anything like ionizing radiation – the stuff that is emitted by plutonium and A-bombs and X-ray machines.
The microwave oven uses much the same principle as your conventional oven to do it’s work – it just does it quite a bit more efficiently (ie: more quickly) and it certainly does not utilize ionizing radiation.
As Dr. Myatt mentions in her note below, she will be releasing a ‘White Paper’ – deeply researched, fully footnoted, and scientifically referenced, and exposing the misinformation that surrounds microwave cooking and frightens people unnecessarily. Watch for it soon!
Dr. Myatt recently received this note from Michele regarding flax oil and the microwave oven for cooking her Myatt Muffins:
Dear Dr. Myatt,
Thank you for your interpretive results. They have been most helpful. Also, I am anxious to try your Myatt muffins, although I have 2 concerns. In past research, I read that you are not supposed to heat flax oil at all and also there are dangers to using a microwave. We do not own a microwave for those reasons. Could you respond to this? I would like to know your views.
Thank you,
Michele
Here is Dr. Myatt’s answer:
Hi Michelle:
Flax oil is fragile beyond a certain time and temperature; i.e. it will be altered when cooked in a regular oven at 350 degrees. The 90 seconds in a microwave doesn’t heat the muffin hot enough to destroy or damage the O-3′s in the flax oil.
Also, most of the stuff people believe about "dangers" of the microwave oven are totally unsubstantiated urban legend. In fact, the microwave does a good job of preserving nutrients because it cooks things at a much lower temperature. I am putting the finishing touches on a medical white paper (an expose) about microwave cooking. Be sure to grab a copy of this once I let you know that it’s available!
In Health,
Dr. Myatt
P.S. My Dad worked for Litton engineering, the first company to manufacture a commercial microwave oven. We were some of the first folks EVER to own a microwave. We just celebrated Dad’s 91st B-day this past May and Mom just turned 87 ( www.MyTributeToMom.com). If the microwave does something bad to food, please don’t tell my Mom and Dad. They’ve been using one regularly for 35 years and many 50 year olds would be glad to have their superb health and perfect lab reports!
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