Dangerous noodle alert!... Don't laugh, this is serious!

You all know I am against processed foods.  Nothing good can come of them and it is much better for our health to eat natural, non processed foods - of which there are many.  However, in today's hectic world, there are many people who rely on junk food to keep them going.  The usual bad boys of junk food are the obvious McDonald's, KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Domino's, etc... but there are also ones that aren't quite so obvious.  Those handy Pot Noodles and other ready made noodles that take no time at all to cook - as in just add boiling water and wait for a few minutes.

Well it turns out that these ready made noodle dishes are seriously dangerous to your health.  And it doesn't really matter if it is a Pot Noodle or a more expensive noodle dish in a nice restaurant.  If the dish is made with ready made noodles and not HOME MADE then you are at risk of developing cardiometabolic syndrome which in turn raises the risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke.

U.S. scientists have discovered that people who ate noodle dishes two to three times a week, including the Japanese noodle dish Ramen, had an increased risk of developing cardiometabolic syndrome.  Their findings have been published in The Journal of Nutrition and could shed new light on the risks of eating this type of "food".

Dr. Shin, the lead study author, on behalf of the Baylor Heart and Vascular Hospital, Texas, USA, said that instant noodles and ramen appeared to be particularly damaging to women's health.  The research focused primarily on South Korea as ramen consumption is relatively high amongst Asian populations.  South Korea has the highest noodle consumption per person in the world.

In recent years, South Koreans have experienced a rapid increase in health problems, such as heart disease and an increasing number of overweight adults, so Dr. Shin decided to investigate the connection between poor health and noodle consumption.

Also, Braden Kuo, a gastroenterologist from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, found that the body struggles to digest dried ramen noodles.  He used a tiny camera to look at the digestive activity of instant ramen noodles in comparison to the digestion of fresh noodles.  He said that many instant ramen noodles contain the chemical Tertiary-butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ), a food additive that is a bi-product of butane, used in the petroleum industry.

"The most striking thing about our experiment when you looked at a time interval, say in one or two hours, processed ramen noodles were less broken down than homemade ramen noodles." he said.

Dr. Shin's study found that women in particular were more likely to suffer health problems from eating noodles.  This could be due to biological differences such as sex hormones and metabolism, between men and women.  However, it may be simply because women are more likely to accurately report whey they ate each day.

Another potential factor in the gender differences is down to a chemical called bisphenol A (BPA) used in the packaging of noodles in styrofoam containers.  Studies have shown that BPA interferes with the way hormones send messages through the body, specifically estrogen (I wrote about this a long time ago, you can read it here).

 "This research is significant since many people are consuming instant noodles without knowing possible health risks," Dr. Shin added, "My hope is that this study can lay a foundation for future research about the health effects of instant noodle consumption."

So, as always, my message is stick to natural, non processed foods!

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com