Microwaves?? [Forum Archive]

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Research Article
Phenolic compound contents in edible parts of broccoli inflorescences after domestic cookingF Vallejo, FA Tomás-Barberán, C García-Viguera *Laboratorio de Fitoquimica, Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología de los Alimentos, CEBAS-CSIC, PO Box 4195, E-30080 Murcia, Spain
email: C García-Viguera (cgviguera@cebas.csic.es)*Correspondence to C García-Viguera, Laboratorio de Fitoquimica, Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología de los Alimentos, CEBAS-CSIC, PO Box 4195, E-30080 Murcia, Spain
Funded by:

Spanish CICYT; Grant Number: AGL2001-1125

Fundacíon Seneca and Consejería de Agricultura, Agua y Medio Ambiente
Keywordsbroccoli (Brassica oleracea L) • flavonoids • hydroxycinnamoyl acid derivatives • domestic cooking • HPLC/MSAbstractTotal flavonoid and individual hydroxycinnamoyl derivative (sinapic and caffeoyl-quinic acid derivative) contents were evaluated in the edible portions of freshly harvested broccoli (cv Marathon inflorescences) before and after cooking and in the cooking water. High-pressure boiling, low-pressure boiling (conventional), steaming and microwaving were the four domestic cooking processes used in this work. The predominant sinapic acid derivatives were identified as 1,2,2

-trisinapoylgentiobiose and 1,2

-disinapoyl-2-feruloylgentiobiose. In addition 1,2-diferuloylgentiobiose and 1-sinapoyl-2,2

-diferuloylgentiobiose were also identified in broccoli inflorescences. The results showed large differences among the four treatments in their influence on flavonoid and hydroxycinnamoyl derivative contents in broccoli. Clear disadvantages were detected when broccoli was microwaved, namely high losses of flavonoids (97%), sinapic acid derivatives (74%) and caffeoyl-quinic acid derivatives (87%). Conventional boiling led to a significant loss of flavonoids (66%) from fresh raw broccoli, while high-pressure boiling caused considerable leaching (47%) of caffeoyl-quinic acid derivatives into the cooking water. On the other hand, steaming had minimal effects, in terms of loss, on both flavonoid and hydroxycinnamoyl derivative contents. Therefore we can conclude that a greater quantity of phenolic compounds will be provided by consumption of steamed broccoli as compared with broccoli prepared by other cooking processes. Copyright © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry

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Originally Posted by Biggly

They don't zap anything that isn't zapped by heat anyway.

Although very high tech and mysterious in some respects all a microwave is, is an alternative means of making something hot. Yes, it excites the molocules with radio waves - and an open flame does the exact same thing with raw heat.

They are easy to get execitedly scared about, noisey, lights, "radio waves", "energy" and all that, heck they even spin but really it's just heat. Fast, convenient heat.

If you read up on it I'm sure you'll find plenty out there telling you that you're at great risk by having your face so close to your monitor too - but don't worry about it. Worry about the big stuff. Microwaves (when safely contained within a microwave) aint big stuff.

Now I open the floor to those who disagree and will tell us microwaves turn peanut butter toxic or something..

B.

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Originally Posted by danzik17

That's a myth. The studies that he is referring to did conclude that microwaves sapped nutrients from foods, but they came to the wrong conclusions. When they were performing these tests, too much water was a problem as a result of ice melting or water added. As we know, boiling your vegetables WILL result in nutrient loss.

In essence what happened was the microwave boiled the water around the food which sapped the nutrients; the microwave itself has no effect on your food's nutrient content.