Doctors Send Out Warning About One Of America's Most Popular Foods; Stop Eating It ASAP
By Michele
We all know that instant ramen aren't good for us, but studies have confirmed just how harmful the prepackaged food can really be. A study in the Journal of Nutrition links instant noodle consumption with heart risk, particularly in women according to MSN.com. The researchers conducted a study with more than 10,700 people ranging in age from 19 to 64. The results? "Women who consume instant noodles frequently were found to be more likely to have metabolic syndrome - the group of risk factors, including obesity and high blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar, that increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes."
The high sodium content in instant noodle products is obvious, but the main culprit is the noodles themselves. In another study by Dr. Braden Kuo, director of the gastrointestinal motility laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard University, the doctor found unsettling results after testing digestion of the noodles. He used a tiny camera to study the breakdown of instant ramen noodles in the stomach and found out just how difficult it is for your body to digest the preservative-filled noodles.
The resulting video showed that the noodles were still largely intact after two hours, according to USA Today.
As long as the noodles remain in the stomach, so do all the noodles' additives, including toxic preservatives like tertiary-butyl hydroquinone.
TBHQ prevents oxidation of fats and oils and is a common ingredient in processed food. McDonald's Chicken McNuggets, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Wheat Thins and Teddy Grahams all contain TBHQ.
The Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives reported that 1 gram of TBHQ can cause a number of adverse effects, including nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium and a sense of suffocation.
Prolonged exposure to TBHQ can cause biochemical changes and affect liver and reproductive function.
image source: Serious Eats
"Although instant noodle is a convenient and delicious food, there could be an increased risk for metabolic syndrome given [the food's] high sodium, unhealthy saturated fat and glycemic loads," said Harvard doctoral candidate Hyun Shin, according to PreventDisease.com.
People with metabolic syndrome are at an increased risk of developing diabetes and heart disease.
Instant noodles also contain high levels of monosodium glutamate, an excitotoxin that can cause damage or death to nerve cells by over-stimulating them. Damaged nerve cells are a factor in the development of debilitating neurological conditions like Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and ALS.
Lisa Young, a nutritionist and professor at New York University, told PreventDisease.com she hopes people keep these things in mind the next time they go to buy a package of instant noodles.
"Instant noodles are high in fat, high in salt, high in calories and they're processed -- all those factors could contribute to some of the health problems [the study] addressed," Young said. "That doesn't mean that every single person is going to respond the same way, but the piece to keep in mind is that it's not a healthy product, and it is a processed food."
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