Instant Noodles Have Serious Health Implications
A study found instant noodles responsible to heart diseases and diabetes. Reuters

If you love devouring a plate of hot instant noodles, be warned: it can have serious implications on your health. Journal of Nutrition recently published a study led by Hyun Shin of Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. The study states that consuming instant noodles increases a person's risk for cardio metabolic syndrome, which in turn leads to heart disease and stroke.

The study was conducted on the data collected by the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Data of 10711 adults between the ages 19 to 64 years were studied extensively. It was found that eating precooked instant noodles in any form was directly linked to abnormalities in cardiovascular, renal and metabolic system.

Surprisingly, it was noted that the effects of instant noodles are gender biased. Women consuming it twice a week or more than that were more likely to develop metabolic syndrome than men, regardless of many other and better attributes of their lifestyle,such as physical exercise, age or body weight. People with metabolic syndrome stand high chances of having either high blood pressure or diabetes.

So what make instant noodles so deadly? The answer lies in the ingredients. MSG and other chemical preservatives, added to increase the appeal and shelf life of instant noodles, wreak havoc on the human body. In addition, the noodles come packaged in styrofoam that contains bisphenol A (BPA), a well-known female hormone disruptor.

The study was focused in South Korea, which is reportedly the highest consumer of instant noodles in the world. There has been a steep rise in cases of heart disease and obesity in said country in recent years. However, the study also holds true for other nations that have these kinds of noodles in their daily staple, such as China, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam and India.

Although the food is indubitably delicious, convenient and popular, especially among kids and teenagers, people should be made aware of its high sodium, unhealthy saturated fat and glycemic loads. Instant noodles are also sprinkled generously with potentially harmful preservatives.

The only way to save yourself from these deadly noodles is to cut them off completely from your diet. If you cannot do that, try to consume very small portions just to satisfy your taste buds.