Ramen noodles are a common food for most of students and those in Asian countries. Perhaps almost everyone has eaten ramen noodles in their lifetime. But do you know why ramen noodles are considered bad for your health?
Although it has been know that ramen noodles is not good for your health, it is a fact that it is still available and many people still consume these easy-to-cook options for snacks, lunch and even dinner.
One of the many studies concerning ramen noodles was a research conducted by Dr. Braden Kuo of Massachusetts General Hospital that shows how ramen noodles are digested inside the stomach. His research also aims to explain the effect of ramen noodles in one's health.
To fulfill the experiment, a pill-sized camera was used to know what really is happening inside the stomach after eating ramen noodles. The result may be shocking to know and may make you think many times if you're still going to eat ramen noodles after watching the video.
From the video, ramen noodles took time to be broken down. After two hours, it is still little solid making the work of the digestive system more complicated. It is more complex than the naturally made ramen noodles.
The highly processed ramen noodles make the digestive system work harder and affect the nutrient absorption. However, ramen noodles don't have many nutrients, but instead it has toxic preservative tertiary-butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ) additive.
Since ramen noodles take longer in the digestive system, the tertiary-butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ) stays longer in the system. How will this affect the health?
According to Livestrong.com, TBHQ is a common preservative for McDonald's chicken nuggets, Reese's peanut butter cups, Kellogg's CHEEZ-IT crackers, Teddy Grahams, Wheat Thins crackers, Taco Bell beans, Red Baron frozen pizza and other preserved foods.
It is classified as synthetic antioxidant that can extends the shelf-life of fatty processed foods. The Food and Drug Administration allows up to 0.02 percent of TBHQ found in total oils. Consuming 5 grams of TBHQ is already considered lethal.
Another study published in the Journal of Nutrition showed that women who consumed more instant noodles have greater risk to developing metabolic syndrome even after having healthy lifestyle and diet.
The research showed that women who consume more instant noodles such as ramen noodles twice a week have 68 percent more chances of developing metabolic disorders including elevated blood pressure, obesity, elevated fasting triglycerides, elevated fasting blood sugar, and low levels of HDL cholesterol.
Factors such as biological differences: hormones and metabolism, the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) that has found to interfere with the female sex hormones were proven to be attributed to the observed differences between men and women in the study.
Watch the video of how ramen noodles were digested inside the digestive system and decide for yourself.
