Instant Noodles

Ultra-processed foods linked to heart disease, cancer, and 30 other health conditions

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  • Ultra-processed foods undergo numerous industrial processes and include foods such as instant noodles, ready meals and hot dogs.
  • Researchers say a high intake of ultra-processed foods is associated with 32 adverse health outcomes.
  • Experts note that ultra processed foods are a common part of the diet in the United States with many people unaware of the health dangers associated with them.

High intake of ultra-processed foods is being associated with increased risk of more than 30 damaging health conditions.

ResearchTrusted Source published this week in The BMJ reports that diets high in ultra-processed foods increased the risk of major heart and lung conditions, cancer, mental health disorders, and other negative health outcomes, including early death.

“Greater exposure to ultra-processed food was associated with a higher risk of adverse health outcomes, especially cardiometabolic, common mental disorder, and mortality outcomes,” the study authors wrote.

Details from the ultra-processed foods study

The researchers conducted an umbrella review of 45 meta-analyses from 14 articles that showed an association between ultra-processed foods and adverse health outcomes. In total, the studies involved nearly 10 million participants.

Food frequency questionnaires, dietary history, and 24 hour dietary recalls were used to measure exposure to ultra-processed foods.

The researchers reported that high intake of ultra-processed foods was consistently associated with an increased risk of 32 negative health outcomes.

The researchers said they found an association between ultra processed foods and all causes of mortality, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, adverse sleep outcomes, adverse anxiety outcomes, asthma, hypertension, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, obesity, metabolic syndrome, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and hyperglycemia, among other diseases and conditions.

They reportred a 50% increased risk of deaths related to cardiovascular disease, a 12% higher risk of type 2 diabetes, and a 48% to 53% higher risk of anxiety and mental disorders.

High intake of ultra-processed foods was also found to be associated with a 21% increased risk of death from any cause and a 22% increased risk of depression.

The researchers argue their findings suggest that ultra-processed foods could be harmful to numerous body systems, highlighting the need for urgent action to reduce dietary exposure to ultra-processed foods.

“Coupled with existing population-based strategies, we recommend urgent mechanistic research and the development and evaluation of comprehensive population based and public health strategies, including government led policy frameworks and dietary guidelines, aimed at targeting and reducing dietary exposure to ultra-processed foods for improved human health,” they wrote.

What to know about ultra-processed foods

Ultra-processed foods include items such as instant noodles, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, ready-to-eat meals, sugary cereal, packaged baked goods, snacks, and soft drinks.

These foods often undergo numerous industrial processes and may be made up of chemically modified substances that are extracted from foods.

Additives may be used to enhance the appearance, texture, taste, or durability of the food, along with added colors, flavors and emulsifiers.

Often, ultra-processed foods are high in salt, sugar, and fat, low in vitamins and fiber, and have minimal or no whole foods.

“An ultra-processed food is a food that resembles nothing of its component parts/ingredients. An ultra-processed food has been stripped of its nutritional value (essentially). It also has many ingredients, including food additives (i.e. hydrogenated fats, modified starches) that are not used in home cooking. These foods are mainly of industrial origin and can be stored for long periods of time,” Dana Hunnes, PhD, a senior clinical dietician at the UCLA Medical Center who was not involved in the research, told Medical News Today.

“Unfortunately, ultra-processed foods are inexpensive to purchase [but] expensive in terms of health,” she added. “Individuals need to look at what they can afford in their diet and make incremental changes. Our brains become addicted to these hyperpalatable flavors and ingredients, and like a drug, we need to wean off these ultra-processed foods and exchange them for healthier, whole-food items.”

About 73%Trusted Source of the food supply in the United States is made up of ultra-processed foods.

Research suggests that more than 60%Trusted Source of daily energy intake in the United States comes from ultra-processed foods.

Why we choose ultra-processed foods

Experts say part of the appeal of ultra-processed foods is they are often cheap and convenient.

“There’s a whole category of foods that we eat that are not the most nutritious. Why do we choose them? Because they’re convenient, they’re tasty, they don’t cost very much, they’re accessible 24/7,” Christopher Gardner, PhD, a nutrition researcher at Stanford University in California who wasn’t involved in the research, told Medical News Today.

However, Gardner argues that in some cases, some ultra-processed foods may be a healthier option than other available options.

“Some of the people choosing these foods are because they are maybe healthier and cost less than some other foods that they have access to. So, what if you had gone in and saw the ultra-processed food label on some tomato sauce, or some yogurt, which is quite plausible, because there are some tomato sauces and yogurt that meet the Nova qualification of being ultra-processed. And so instead of that, you went to a fast-food restaurant and got a burger and fries?,” he said.

How to achieve a healthy diet

Experts say there are steps people can take to improve their diets and reduce the risks associated with eating ultra-processed foods.

“Ultra-processed foods have been such a staple of the American diet that many do not know the potential harm they are doing to their health. People often turn to ultra-processed foods because of lack of time, but convenience can be unhealthy,” Lauri Wright, PhD, the president of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics who was not involved in the research, told Medical News Today.

“Try switching out minimally processed foods rather than ultra-processed foods,” she suggested. “Eat out less and make healthier choices when you do. For example, a grilled chicken sandwich, fruit cup and water or low-fat milk instead of a burger, fries and soda.”

“Finally, make more foods at home,” Wright added. “This requires advance planning, some batch cooking, and taking advantage of some convenience methods such as an instapot or slow cooker. Try making your own kale chips, roasting chickpeas or snacking on nuts as an alternative to chips. For a sweet tooth, sprinkle berries on Greek yogurt, freeze grapes for a flavor blast, or make your own trail mix.”

The noodles that are linked to chronic inflammation, weight gain, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s

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ramen noodles

Instant noodles are a popular go-to lunch or dinner for those who are strapped for time (or cash), like college students. While you probably don’t consider them a health food, you may think they’re not that bad, or, at least, not as bad as eating a burger and fries or a fast-food burrito.

In a first-of-its-kind experiment, however, Dr. Braden Kuo of Massachusetts General Hospital may make you reconsider your love of instant noodles (assuming you have one).

He used a pill-sized camera to see what happens inside your stomach and digestive tract after you eat ramen noodles, one common type of instant noodles. The results were astonishing…

Video URL:https://youtu.be/IQlNv2Au-Lg

Ramen Noodles Don’t Break Down After Hours of Digestion

In the video above, you can see ramen noodles inside a stomach. Even after two hours, they are remarkably intact, much more so than the homemade ramen noodles, which were used as a comparison. This is concerning for a number of reasons.

For starters, it could be putting a strain on your digestive system, which is forced to work for hours to break down this highly processed food (ironically, most processed food is so devoid of fiber that it gets broken down very quickly, interfering with your blood sugar levels and insulin release).

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When food remains in your digestive tract for such a long time, it will also impact nutrient absorption, but, in the case of processed ramen noodles, there isn’t much nutrition to be had. Instead, there is a long list of additives, including the toxic preservative tertiary butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ).

This additive will likely remain in your stomach along with the seemingly invincible noodles, and no one knows what this extended exposure time may do to your health. Common sense suggests it’s not going to be good…

Five Grams of Noodle Preservative, TBHQ, Is Lethal

TBHQ, a byproduct of the petroleum industry, is often listed as an “antioxidant,” but it’s important to realize it is a synthetic chemical with antioxidant properties – not a natural antioxidant. The chemical prevents oxidation of fats and oils, thereby extending the shelf life of processed foods.

It’s a commonly used ingredient in processed foods of all kinds (including McDonald’s chicken nuggets, Kellogg’s CHEEZ-IT crackers, Reese’s peanut butter cups, Wheat Thins crackers, Teddy Grahams, Red Baron frozen pizza, Taco Bell beans, and much more).

But you can also find it in varnishes, lacquers, and pesticide products, as well as cosmetics and perfumes to reduce the evaporation rate and improve stability.

At its 19th and 21st meetings, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives determined that TBHQ was safe for human consumption at levels of 0-0.5 mg/kg of body weight.1

However, the Codex commission set the maximum allowable limits up to between 100 to as much as 400 mg/kg, depending on the food it’s added to.2 (Chewing gum is permitted to contain the highest levels of TBHQ.) In the US, the Food and Drug Administration requires that TBHQ must not exceed 0.02 percent of its oil and fat content.3

So there’s quite a discrepancy in supposedly “safe” limits, but it’s probably best to have little or no exposure to this toxicant, as exposure to five grams can be lethal and, according to A Consumer’s Dictionary of Food Additives, exposure to just one gram of TBHQ can cause:4

  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
  • Delirium
  • Sense of suffocation
  • Collapse

While TBHQ is not suspected to be a persistent toxicant, meaning your body is probably able to eliminate it so that it does not bioaccumulate, if you eat instant noodles your body might be getting prolonged exposures. This is concerning, to say the least. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), based on animal studies health hazards associated with TBHQ include:5

  • Liver effects at very low doses
  • Positive mutation results from in vitro tests on mammalian cells
  • Biochemical changes at very low doses
  • Reproductive effects at high doses

Eating Instant Noodles Linked to Metabolic Syndrome

If you’re still considering ramen noodles for lunch, you should know a new study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that women who consumed more instant noodles had a significantly greater risk of metabolic syndrome than those who ate less, regardless of their overall diet or exercise habits.6

Women who ate instant noodles more than twice a week were 68 percent more likely to have metabolic syndrome — a group of symptoms such as central obesity, elevated blood pressure, elevated fasting blood sugar, elevated fasting triglycerides, and low levels of HDL cholesterol.

Having three or more of the symptoms increases your risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Past research also analyzed overall nutrient intake between instant-noodle consumers and non-consumers, and found, as you might suspect, that eating instant noodles contributes little value to a healthy diet.

The instant noodle consumers had a significantly lower intake of important nutrients like protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, vitamin A, niacin, and vitamin C compared with non-consumers.7 Those who ate instant noodles also had an excessive intake of energy, unhealthy fats and sodium (just one package may contain 2,700 milligrams of sodium).8

What Else Is in a Package of Instant Noodles?

Aside from a lot of sodium and the preservative TBHQ, what else is found in a typical serving of instant noodles?

Prevent Disease reported:9“The dried noodle block was originally created by flash frying cooked noodles, and this is still the main method used in Asian countries, though air-dried noodle blocks are favored in Western countries. The main ingredients of the dried noodle are wheat flour, palm oil, and salt. Common ingredients of the flavoring powder are salt, monosodium glutamate, seasoning, and sugar.

Benzopyrene

…In June 2012, the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) found Benzopyrene (a cancer-causing substance) in six brands of noodles made by Nong Shim Company Ltd. Although the KFDA said the amounts were minuscule and not harmful, Nong Shim did identify particular batches of noodles with a problem, prompting a recall by October 2012.”

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

The monosodium glutamate (MSG) in instant noodles is reason enough to avoid them. MSG is an excitotoxin, which means it overexcites your nerve cells to the point of damage or death, causing brain dysfunction and damage to varying degrees — and potentially even triggering or worsening learning disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and more.

Glutamic Acid

Part of the problem is that free glutamic acid (MSG is approximately 78 percent free glutamic acid) is the same neurotransmitter that your brain, nervous system, eyes, pancreas, and other organs use to initiate certain processes in your body. Not to mention, MSG is also used to fatten up mice for scientific study. Yes, MSG is the perfect obesity drug. If you want to achieve your ideal body weight and health, avoid MSG at all costs.

Return to Whole, Living Foods for Optimal Health

Occasionally eating a package of instant noodles clearly won’t kill you, but when you make a habit of substituting convenience foods for real food, it’s only a matter of time before health problems will likely develop.

Instant noodles are a prime example of the types of processed foods you want to avoid as much as possible, as they are virtually guaranteed to make you sick and fat if you indulge too much (and “too much” may be as little as a couple of times a week).

Processed foods encourage weight gain and chronic disease because they’re high in sugar, fructose, refined carbohydrates, and artificial ingredients, and low in nutrients and fiber. Processed foods are addictive and designed to make you overeat; they also encourage excessive food cravings, leading to weight gain.

Eating processed foods also promotes insulin resistance and chronic inflammation, which are hallmarks of most chronic and/or serious diseases. On the other hand, people have thrived on vegetables, meats, eggs, fruits, and other whole foods for centuries, while processed foods were only recently invented.

Ditching processed foods requires that you plan your meals in advance, but if you take it step-by-step as described in my nutrition plan, it’s quite possible, and manageable, to painlessly remove processed foods from your diet.

You can try scouting out your local farmer’s markets for in-season produce that is priced to sell, and planning your meals accordingly, but you can also use this same premise with supermarket sales.

You can generally plan a week of meals at a time, making sure you have all ingredients necessary on hand, and then do any prep work you can ahead of time so that dinner is easy to prepare if you’re short on time (and you can use leftovers for lunches the next day, so you don’t have to resort to instant noodles).

Studies Show Harmful Effects Of Instant Noodles

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Instant ramen noodles

An experiment performed by a doctor in Massachusetts has people questioning whether they will ever eat instant noodles again.

Dr. Braden Kuo of Massachusetts General Hospital used a camera the size of a pill to find out what happens while the body digests pre-cooked 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.

 A 2014 study in medical periodical The Journal of Nutrition concluded that women in South Korea who ate more instant noodles were more likely to suffer from metabolic syndrome, the symptoms of which include obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and low levels of HDL cholesterol, which is considered the “good” cholesterol.

“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.”

Instant Noodles Could Hurt Your Heart

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It’s convenient, cheap and best served hot, but how healthy is it? The instant noodles commonly known as ramen — a staple food for college kids and other young adults, as well as people in certain cultures — may increase people’s risk of metabolic changes linked to heart disease and stroke, new research finds.
In the study, women in South Korea who consumed more of the precooked blocks of dried noodles were more likely to have “metabolic syndrome” regardless of what else they ate, or how much they exercised, the researchers found. People with metabolic syndrome may have high blood pressure or high blood sugar levels, and face an increased risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
“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 study co-author Hyun Shin, a doctoral candidate at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. [7 Foods Your Heart Will Hate]

Shin and his colleagues at Baylor University and Harvard analyzed the health and diet of nearly 11,000 adults in South Korea between ages 19 to 64. The participants reported what they ate, and the researchers categorized each participant’s diet as centered on either traditional healthy food or fast food, as well as how many times weekly they ate instant noodles.
Women who ate instant noodles twice a week or more had a higher risk of metabolic syndrome than those who ate ramen less, or not at all, regardless of whether their diet style fell into the traditional or fast-food category. The researchers found the association even among young women who were leaner and reported doing more physical activity.
As for men, Shin and his colleagues guessed that biological differences between the genders, like the effect of sex hormones and metabolism, might account for the lack of an apparent association among males between eating instant noodles and developing metabolic syndrome.
The study was conducted in South Korea, an area known to have the largest ramen consumption group in the world, where people consumed 3.4 billion packages of instant noodles in 2010.
But the findings could apply to people in North American too, said Lisa Young, a nutritionist and professor at New York University who was not involved in the study. “We [in the States] don’t eat it as much, but the ramen noodles are being sold, so this could apply to anywhere they’re sold, and they’re sold almost everywhere.”
So what’s so bad about 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 researchers] 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.”
Processed foods generally contain high amounts of sugar and salt, primarily because they are designed to have long shelf lives.
But Young said there might be ways to dampen the dangers of eating instant noodles without swearing off of them altogether. “Number one, don’t eat it every day,” Young told Live Science. “Number two, portion control,” she said, and recommended that people eat a small amount of instant noodles and mix them with vegetables and other healthier, nonprocessed foods.
Above all, however, Young said a little bit of preparation could help people avoid processed instant noodles altogether. “You can easily make noodles, homemade pasta, ground-rice pasta and veggies” at home, with a little bit of planning, she said.

This Is What Happens To Your Stomach After You Eat Instant Noodles .

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instant-ramen-stomach
Instant noodles are a popular go-to lunch or dinner for those who are strapped for time (or cash), like college students. While you probably don’t consider them a health food, you may think they’re not that bad, or, at least, not as bad as eating a burger and fries or a fast-food burrito.
In a first-of-its-kind experiment, however, Dr. Braden Kuo of Massachusetts General Hospital may make you reconsider your love of instant noodles (assuming you have one).

He used a pill-sized camera to see what happens inside your stomach and digestive tract after you eat ramen noodles, one common type of instant noodles. The results were astonishing…

RAMEN NOODLES DON’T BREAK DOWN AFTER HOURS OF DIGESTION

IN THE VIDEO ABOVE, YOU CAN SEE RAMEN NOODLES INSIDE A STOMACH. EVEN AFTER TWO HOURS, THEY ARE REMARKABLY INTACT, MUCH MORE SO THAN THE HOMEMADE RAMEN NOODLES, WHICH WERE USED AS A COMPARISON. THIS IS CONCERNING FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS.

FOR STARTERS, IT COULD BE PUTTING A STRAIN ON YOUR DIGESTIVE SYSTEM, WHICH IS FORCED TO WORK FOR HOURS TO BREAK DOWN THIS HIGHLY PROCESSED FOOD (IRONICALLY, MOST PROCESSED FOOD IS SO DEVOID OF FIBER THAT IT GETS BROKEN DOWN VERY QUICKLY, INTERFERING WITH YOUR BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS AND INSULIN RELEASE).

WHEN FOOD REMAINS IN YOUR DIGESTIVE TRACT FOR SUCH A LONG TIME, IT WILL ALSO IMPACT NUTRIENT ABSORPTION, BUT, IN THE CASE OF PROCESSED RAMEN NOODLES, THERE ISN’T MUCH NUTRITION TO BE HAD. INSTEAD, THERE IS A LONG LIST OF ADDITIVES, INCLUDING THE TOXIC PRESERVATIVE TERTIARY-BUTYL HYDROQUINONE (TBHQ).

THIS ADDITIVE WILL LIKELY REMAIN IN YOUR STOMACH ALONG WITH THE SEEMINGLY INVINCIBLE NOODLES, AND NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THIS EXTENDED EXPOSURE TIME MAY DO TO YOUR HEALTH. COMMON SENSE SUGGESTS IT’S NOT GOING TO BE GOOD…

FIVE GRAMS OF NOODLE PRESERVATIVE, TBHQ, IS LETHAL

TBHQ, A BYPRODUCT OF THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY, IS OFTEN LISTED AS AN “ANTIOXIDANT,” BUT IT’S IMPORTANT TO REALIZE IT IS A SYNTHETIC CHEMICAL WITH ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTIES– NOT A NATURAL ANTIOXIDANT. THE CHEMICAL PREVENTS OXIDATION OF FATS AND OILS, THEREBY EXTENDING THE SHELF LIFE OF PROCESSED FOODS.

IT’S A COMMONLY USED INGREDIENT IN PROCESSED FOODS OF ALL KINDS (INCLUDING MCDONALD’S CHICKEN NUGGETS, KELLOGG’S CHEEZ-IT CRACKERS, REESE’S PEANUT BUTTER CUPS, WHEAT THINS CRACKERS, TEDDY GRAHAMS, RED BARON FROZEN PIZZA, TACO BELL BEANS, AND MUCH MORE).

BUT YOU CAN ALSO FIND IT IN VARNISHES, LACQUERS, AND PESTICIDE PRODUCTS, AS WELL AS COSMETICS AND PERFUMES TO REDUCE THE EVAPORATION RATE AND IMPROVE STABILITY.

AT ITS 19TH AND 21ST MEETINGS, THE JOINT FAO/WHO EXPERT COMMITTEE ON FOOD ADDITIVES DETERMINED THAT TBHQ WAS SAFE FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION AT LEVELS OF 0-0.5 MG/KG OF BODY WEIGHT.1

HOWEVER, THE CODEX COMMISSION SET THE MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE LIMITS UP TO BETWEEN 100 TO AS MUCH AS 400 MG/KG, DEPENDING ON THE FOOD IT’S ADDED TO.2(CHEWING GUM IS PERMITTED TO CONTAIN THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF TBHQ.) IN THE US, THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION REQUIRES THAT TBHQ MUST NOT EXCEED 0.02 PERCENT OF ITS OIL AND FAT CONTENT.3

SO THERE’S QUITE A DISCREPANCY IN SUPPOSEDLY “SAFE” LIMITS, BUT IT’S PROBABLY BEST TO HAVE LITTLE OR NOEXPOSURE TO THIS TOXICANT, AS EXPOSURE TO FIVE GRAMS CAN BE LETHAL AND, ACCORDING TO A CONSUMER’S DICTIONARY OF FOOD ADDITIVES,EXPOSURE TO JUST ONE GRAM OF TBHQ CAN CAUSE:4

  • NAUSEA AND VOMITING
  • RINGING IN THE EARS (TINNITUS)
  • DELIRIUM
  • SENSE OF SUFFOCATION
  • COLLAPSE

WHILE TBHQ IS NOT SUSPECTED TO BE A PERSISTENT TOXICANT, MEANING YOUR BODY IS PROBABLY ABLE TO ELIMINATE IT SO THAT IT DOES NOT BIOACCUMULATE, IF YOU EAT INSTANT NOODLES YOUR BODY MIGHT BE GETTING PROLONGED EXPOSURES. THIS IS CONCERNING, TO SAY THE LEAST. ACCORDING TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP (EWG), BASED ON ANIMAL STUDIES HEALTH HAZARDS ASSOCIATED WITH TBHQ INCLUDE:5

  • LIVER EFFECTS AT VERY LOW DOSES
  • POSITIVE MUTATION RESULTS FROM IN VITRO TESTS ON MAMMALIAN CELLS
  • BIOCHEMICAL CHANGES AT VERY LOW DOSES
  • REPRODUCTIVE EFFECTS AT HIGH DOSES

 

EATING INSTANT NOODLES LINKED TO METABOLIC SYNDROME

IF YOU’RE STILL CONSIDERING RAMEN NOODLES FOR LUNCH, YOU SHOULD KNOW A NEW STUDY PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL OF NUTRITION FOUND THAT WOMEN WHO CONSUMED MORE INSTANT NOODLES HAD A SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER RISK OF METABOLIC SYNDROME THAN THOSE WHO ATE LESS, REGARDLESS OF THEIR OVERALL DIET OR EXERCISE HABITS.6

WOMEN WHO ATE INSTANT NOODLES MORE THAN TWICE A WEEK WERE 68 PERCENT MORE LIKELY TO HAVE METABOLIC SYNDROME — A GROUP OF SYMPTOMS SUCH AS CENTRAL OBESITY, ELEVATED BLOOD PRESSURE, ELEVATED FASTING BLOOD SUGAR, ELEVATED FASTING TRIGLYCERIDES, AND LOW LEVELS OF HDL CHOLESTEROL.

HAVING THREE OR MORE OF THE SYMPTOMS INCREASES YOUR RISK OF DEVELOPINGDIABETES AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE. PAST RESEARCH ALSO ANALYZED OVERALL NUTRIENT INTAKE BETWEEN INSTANT-NOODLE CONSUMERS AND NON-CONSUMERS, AND FOUND, AS YOU MIGHT SUSPECT, THAT EATING INSTANT NOODLES CONTRIBUTES LITTLE VALUE TO A HEALTHY DIET.

THE INSTANT-NOODLE CONSUMERS HAD A SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER INTAKE OF IMPORTANT NUTRIENTS LIKE PROTEIN, CALCIUM, PHOSPHORUS, IRON, POTASSIUM, VITAMIN A, NIACIN, AND VITAMIN C COMPARED WITH NON-CONSUMERS.7THOSE WHO ATE INSTANT NOODLES ALSO HAD AN EXCESSIVE INTAKE OF ENERGY, UNHEALTHY FATS AND SODIUM (JUST ONE PACKAGE MAY CONTAIN 2,700 MILLIGRAMS OF SODIUM).8

WHAT ELSE IS IN A PACKAGE OF INSTANT NOODLES?

ASIDE FROM A LOT OF SODIUM AND THE PRESERVATIVE TBHQ, WHAT ELSE IS FOUND IN A TYPICAL SERVING OF INSTANT NOODLES? PREVENT DISEASE REPORTED:9

“THE DRIED NOODLE BLOCK WAS ORIGINALLY CREATED BY FLASH FRYING COOKED NOODLES, AND THIS IS STILL THE MAIN METHOD USED IN ASIAN COUNTRIES, THOUGH AIR-DRIED NOODLE BLOCKS ARE FAVORED IN WESTERN COUNTRIES. THE MAIN INGREDIENTS OF THE DRIED NOODLE ARE WHEAT FLOUR, PALM OIL, AND SALT. COMMON INGREDIENTS OF THE FLAVORING POWDER ARE SALT, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, SEASONING, AND SUGAR.

…IN JUNE 2012, THE KOREA FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION (KFDA) FOUND BENZOPYRENE (A CANCER-CAUSING SUBSTANCE) IN SIX BRANDS OF NOODLES MADE BY NONG SHIM COMPANY LTD. ALTHOUGH THE KFDA SAID THE AMOUNTS WERE MINUSCULE AND NOT HARMFUL, NONG SHIM DID IDENTIFY PARTICULAR BATCHES OF NOODLES WITH A PROBLEM, PROMPTING A RECALL BY OCTOBER 2012.”

THE MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE (MSG) IN INSTANT NOODLES IS REASON ENOUGH TO AVOID THEM. MSG IS AN EXCITOTOXIN, WHICH MEANS IT OVEREXCITES YOUR NERVE CELLS TO THE POINT OF DAMAGE OR DEATH, CAUSING BRAIN DYSFUNCTION AND DAMAGE TO VARYING DEGREES — AND POTENTIALLY EVEN TRIGGERING OR WORSENING LEARNING DISABILITIES, ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE, PARKINSON’S DISEASE, LOU GEHRIG’S DISEASE, AND MORE.

PART OF THE PROBLEM IS THAT FREE GLUTAMIC ACID (MSG IS APPROXIMATELY 78 PERCENT FREE GLUTAMIC ACID) IS THE SAME NEUROTRANSMITTER THAT YOUR BRAIN, NERVOUS SYSTEM, EYES, PANCREAS, AND OTHER ORGANS USE TO INITIATE CERTAIN PROCESSES IN YOUR BODY. NOT TO MENTION, MSG IS ALSO USED TO FATTEN UP MICE FOR SCIENTIFIC STUDY. YES, MSG ISTHE PERFECT OBESITY DRUG. IF YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE YOUR IDEAL BODY WEIGHT AND HEALTH, AVOID MSG AT ALL COSTS.

RETURN TO WHOLE, LIVING FOODS FOR OPTIMAL HEALTH

OCCASIONALLY EATING A PACKAGE OF INSTANT NOODLES CLEARLY WON’T KILL YOU, BUT WHEN YOU MAKE A HABIT OF SUBSTITUTING CONVENIENCE FOODS FOR REAL FOOD, IT’S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE HEALTH PROBLEMS WILL LIKELY DEVELOP. INSTANT NOODLES ARE A PRIME EXAMPLE OF THE TYPES OF PROCESSED FOODS YOU WANT TO AVOID AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, AS THEY ARE VIRTUALLY GUARANTEED TO MAKE YOU SICK AND FAT IF YOU INDULGE TOO MUCH (AND “TOO MUCH” MAY BE AS LITTLE AS A COUPLE OF TIMES A WEEK).

PROCESSED FOODS ENCOURAGE WEIGHT GAIN AND CHRONIC DISEASE BECAUSE THEY’RE HIGH IN SUGAR, FRUCTOSE, REFINED CARBOHYDRATES, AND ARTIFICIAL INGREDIENTS, AND LOW IN NUTRIENTS AND FIBER. PROCESSED FOODS ARE ADDICTIVE AND DESIGNED TO MAKE YOU OVEREAT; THEY ALSO ENCOURAGE EXCESSIVE FOOD CRAVINGS, LEADING TO WEIGHT GAIN. EATING PROCESSED FOODS ALSO PROMOTES INSULIN RESISTANCE AND CHRONIC INFLAMMATION, WHICH ARE HALLMARKS OF MOST CHRONIC AND/OR SERIOUS DISEASES. ON THE OTHER HAND, PEOPLE HAVE THRIVED ON VEGETABLES, MEATS, EGGS, FRUITS, AND OTHER WHOLE FOODS FOR CENTURIES, WHILE PROCESSED FOODS WERE ONLY RECENTLY INVENTED.

Watch the video. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IQlNv2Au-Lg

How Instant Noodles Can Hurt Your Heart .

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In the proverbial pantry of cheap, convenient eats, nothing beats ramen. You no longer even have to be a college student to indulge: the processed noodle has graduated from dorm room to restaurant, popping up on U.S. menus 18% more from 2013 to 2014, according to the food industry research firm Technomic.

But while the rise of ramen is good for noodle shops, a study published in The Journal of Nutrition found that it’s not great for your heart, particularly if you’re a woman.

The study looked at the reported diets of 10,711 adults using data from a two-year survey of South Koreans, who reportedly eat more ramen than anyone else in the world. Two diet tracks emerged: a “traditional diet,” which was full of rice, grains, fish, and produce, and a so-called “meat-and-fast-food pattern,” which replaced some of those staples with meat, soda, fast food, and instant noodles.

Neither of those diets on the whole were associated with an uptick in cardio-metabolic syndrome—which is a collection of risk factors for heart disease, type-2 diabetes and stroke including high blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol. But the instant noodles were. Eating instant noodles at least twice a week was associated with 68% more cardiometabolic syndrome for women, regardless of what else their diet was made up of.

This effect was only seen in women. Study author Dr. Hyun Joon Shin, a clinical cardiology fellow at Baylor University Medical Center and a nutrition epidemiology doctoral student at Harvard School of Public Health, says that one likely reason is that women have different sex hormones and metabolism than men. Other culprits could include instant noodle packaging, which is often lined with the endocrine disruptor BPA and can mess with estrogen signaling, which may, in turn, lead to some of the risk factors for cardiometabolic syndrome.

Regardless, those noodle packs are hardly a healthy choice for anyone. Highly processed instant noodles differ from regular noodles because they’re often prepped in palm oil for fast cooking and loaded with salt, artificial flavors, and preservatives. “The noodle is very artificially made to make it more delicious, and it can be cooked very easily, within 5 minutes,” Shin told TIME. But cooking “slow” noodles—you know, the kind you dump in boiling water for just a few minutes longer than the instant ones—is well worth the wait for your heart.