The famous instant noodles: affordable, convenient, tasty, filling and best served hot and garnished with eggs, shrimps or beef, sounds like a perfect meal especially when you are too tired or too hungry to prepare a healthy meal, but how healthy is it really? Instant noodles also known as ramen is originally an Asian delicacy. It consists of Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat- or fish-based broth, often flavoured with soy sauce or miso, and uses toppings such as sliced pork, dried seaweed, and green onions. However this staple food has come to stay in Nigeria. It has moved from being a staple food loved by children to a delicacy meal eaten by lots of adults. While you probably don’t consider them as healthy food, you may think they’re not that bad, or, at least, not as bad as eating a burger and French fries. But eating it may be at one’s own risk as they could wreak havoc to your health.
Instant noodle is a highly processed food that lacks nutritive value. It is a junk food. Every single serving of instant noodle is high in carbohydrates, sodium and other food additives, but low on essential elements such as fibre, vitamins and minerals. According to a study published in the Journal of Nutrition, there is a correlation between consumption of instant noodles and the risk for heart disease, stroke and diabetes. The results were taken from a record of 10,711 adults’ diets from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2007 to 2009. The researchers discovered that eating instant noodles just twice a week correlated with a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome. This is a group of risk factors, such as high blood pressure or high blood sugar that occur simultaneously and increases the risk for coronary artery disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.
Furthermore, instant noodles appears to have a greater effect on women. In the study, women who consumed more of the pre-cooked blocks of dried noodles were more likely to have metabolic syndrome regardless of what else they ate, or how much they exercised. As for men, the researchers guessed that the 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 noodles consumption group in the world, where people consumed 3.4 billion packages of instant noodles in 2010. But the findings could apply to Nigerians too. Though Nigerians don’t eat instant noodles as much as Koreans, we are definably one of the highest consumers and they are sold everywhere in Nigeria.
This study corroborates the findings of other studies that have found that noodles are bad for the health. In 2012, a study conducted by a gastrointestinal specialist from the Massachusetts General Hospital discovered that two hours after it was eaten, it didn’t digest. The study was done through a video taken from inside the digestive tract. The stomach worked overtime, struggling for hours to grind up the strands. When food remains in your digestive tract for such a long time, it will also impact nutrient absorption, but, in the case of processed noodles, there isn’t much nutrition to be had. Instead, there is a long list of additives. This additive will likely remain in your stomach along with the seemingly invincible noodles, and extended exposure time, is bad for the health.
According to the Codex international food, (Part of World Health Organization (WHO) and Food Agriculture Organization (FAO), acid regulators, flavour enhancers, thickeners, humectants, colours, stabilizers, anti-oxidants, emulsifiers, flour treatment agents, preservatives and anti-caking agents are allowed to use in the making of instant noodles. 24 of the 136 listed additives in the Codex Standards are sodium salts. And the use of sodium additives is the main reason why instant noodles are high in sodium. High-sodium foods can cause hypertension, heart disease, stroke, kidney damage and other health problems. In addition to the high level of sodium, during the manufacturing process, In order to create noodles with a long shelf life and a short preparation time, the instant noodles are deep-fried in oil. The soup mix also has high content levels of fat, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and other preservatives.
MSG in instant noodles is reason enough to avoid them. MSG is an excitotoxin, which means it over excites 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 per cent 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. If you want to achieve your ideal body weight and health, avoid MSG at all costs. Another chemical is tertiary butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ) — a by-product of the petroleum industry and a food additive used to preserve processed foods. It is also used in instant noodles. It is a chemical that is neither digestible nor beneficial for your body. TBHQ is sprayed onto the food or its packaging to prevent discoloration or changes in its appearance and smell. Other products, such as cosmetics, perfumes and varnishes also contain TBHQ to maintain stability.
Another major concern with instant noodle is that it can produce oxidised fat and oil if it is not managed properly during the manufacturing process. This is of concern if the cooking oil is not maintained at the proper temperature or the oil is not changed as often as necessary. Instant noodles are coated with wax to prevent the noodles from sticking together. This can be seen when hot water is added to the noodles. After some time the wax can be seen floating in the water. 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 be unhealthy if you indulge too much and “too much” may be as little as a couple of times a week according to research. – Culled from Daily Times.
