DOES MICROWAVING FOOD AFFECT IT'S NUTRITIONAL VALUE ?

I have read articles on the pros and cons of microwave cooking and heating. Most of them are at either extreme. From what I've gathered different foods and different nutrients react differently. In other words it may not be a good idea to heat baby's bottle in the microwave because not only can the milk inside the bottle be hotter than the outside of the bottle and scald baby, but also it may lessen the valuable properties of the formula or breast milk.

When looking at the three main parts of heating food, temperature, water content added, and length of time cooking, microwaving seems to be an outright winner. Some nutrients are destroyed by high heat, cooking for too long a period, and adding water because the nutrients seep into the water and out of the food. However there are some vitamins that are very sensitive to high heat, like B and C, and they fare much better in the microwave versus stove top.

Other articles and studies claim that consuming microwaved foods cause chemical changes in the immune system and the blood itself. They even suggest that microwaving increases cholesterol.

We do know that heating or cooking foods in plastic can be unhealthy in a microwave, because it can cause some plastics to leach chemicals into the food. It's recommended that you use wax paper or glass containers.

So we're back to where we started from, deciding for ourselves using the most reliable information we can find.