people's thoughts on microwaving food for birds

[FeatherKaeru]

I've read quite a few scientific research on the matter. One lady scientist did a study. Where she microwaved water. Let it cooled and used it to water plants. Then she use the water to grow seeds. The seeds never sprouted and house plants were dying or dead.

I never use the microwave after doing the study myself. And also learning that microwave makes dead food. It takes the nutrition out.

I'm not trying to scare people. Just bringing up a topic.

[Wolf]

Well I think that there may be more involved than what we are aware of such as what was the water in when it was nuked? If it was in a plastic container then the plastic could have contaminated the water. But we don't know this or other possible factors.
Any way as a matter of course the only thing that I use the microwave for is to heat my coffee and I don't need anything living in that.

[Pajarita]

Well, that's not only not true, it's actually the opposite for certain types of food. See these:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/21/health/up ... index.html

https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/mi ... nutrition/

http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-h ... -nutrition

If the lady allowed the water to boil in the microwave, she was eliminating the oxygen from it and that's most likely the reason why the plants ended up dead.

I only use the microwave to get the 'cold' out of the gloop before I serve it and to cook the birds' potatoes and sweet potatoes (without any water and in their skins inside a Potato Express bag -which I LOVE!).

[FeatherKaeru]

The lady is top of her field in cancer treatment. Microwave test was to show how deadly the effects are on all living creatures. If you would like information on her I can gladly post it on the forum.

Those articles are to show people microwaves are safe to use. So, the general public will still buy the product.

If you look at the natural or organic forums/ articles about microwaving is unsafe.

[Pajarita]

No, only one of the sources might have been compromised (the CNN one), the other two were purely scientific. Please, do post the links so we can compare.

[Wolf]

I love links to information so that I can read and make my own mind up about what I have read.

[RoseanneK]

Hi! Thanks for an interesting question and some great replies.

As a physicist, I do use a microwave and can see no actual health risks associated with it. Food is cooked by adding energy that moves the molecules around and changes the way they bond, changing the structures in protiens and carboyhdrates. This is how any cooking works, from putting stuff in a fire to using a stove or microwave. In a microwave, the energy comes from applying an electromagnetic field to the food (microwaves are an electromagnetic field, just like visible light only with a bigger wavelength), which causes the molecules to move around, because molecules are weakly electrically-charged. In principle, there is nothing dangerous about that. It's the same as what happens when you put food on the stove or fire.

My response as a bird owner would be that birds don't tend to eat cooked food, so unless you're making bran mash or scrambled egg or something for him, you probably shouldn't be cooking his food at all. Some vitamins are destroyed by heating, so if you want him to be getting all the vitamins he needs, give him raw fruits and vegetables.

[Pajarita]

Thank you so much for the explanation. Yes, raw produce is essential BUT because they also need to eat whole grains, something which is not part of many parrots natural diet, in order to make them more digestible for them, cooking is recommended.

[liz]

I don't take chances. This new home has well water. I have change us, the cats and dogs to tap water but I still buy spring water for the birds.

I don't use the microwave for the birds. I have a hot pot to boil water in for their gloop.

[Pajarita]

Liz, please make sure that you test the well water every 6 months because just the fact that it comes from a well doesn't mean that it's good water (and that's why they sell these super duper filters for wells).