Is there scientific evidence to support the idea that vegetables cooked in a microwave retain their goodness

Great question. I have heard that boiling reduces all nutrients in veggies, especially Folate and that nuking them does not. The link below is from an author who claims this. Maybe the bibliography will cite some of his sources?

the best way to eat them to get all that goodness is eat them raw!

This is an article from the NY Times. It says,

'' a March 2007 study in The Journal of Food Science looked at the effects of boiling, steaming, microwaving & pressure cooking on the nutrients in broccoli. Steaming & boiling caused a 22 percent to 34 percent loss of vitamin C. Microwaved & pressure-cooked vegetables retained 90 percent of their vitamin C.''

http://nytimes.com/2008/05/20/health/nutrition/20well.html?ref=science

If it retains 95 % of their vit C then it must retain a high percentage of the other vits, too.

People who spread such rumours are really technophobes.
Microwaves agitate water molecules, which is similar to steaming.

Microwave ovens heat food through a process of creating molecular friction, but this same molecular friction quickly destroys the delicate molecules of vitamins & phytonutrients (plant medicines) naturally found in foods. One study showed that microwaving vegetables destroys up to 97% of the nutritional content (vitamins & other plant-based nutrients that prevent disease, boost immune function & enhance health).

I believe microwaves r responsible for a lot of western bad health, use only when necessary.

There r all sorts of myths about microwave ovens because people do not understand how they work. Vegetables lose some of their goodness however they r cooked. Boiling them in water means they lose some of their water-soluble vitamins. Deep-frying means they lose some of their fat-soluble vitamins. However, they do not lose all of their goodness, so just make sure u eat plenty of them.

Cooking vegetables in the microwave with a small amount of water is better than boiling them & about the same as steaming them. Personally, I prefer them boiled. Apart from porcini mushrooms brushed with a little extra-virgin olive oil & microwaved until they start steaming.

Well.it is good to not cook your vegetables for more than 15 minutes otherwise the vitamins leach in the cooking water. But as for the microwave, if you use a microwave safe container (no Styrofoam or plastic!) you should be good. That is what i have always been told. But I found a link that says a whole lot else.

Why eat vegetables when there is cookies and sweets in the world. We're all just gunna die anyways.

nope its all a gimic, a microwave just excites the water molecules, basically so does a stove top