Ramen Noodles May Lead to Chronic Illness

[Liberal_in_LA]

article from May, yeah, but I just saw it. Interesting. Our local 99cent store sells Ramen noodles at an unbelievably low price. Seems like the packaging would cost more. Less than 10 cent a package!


Posted May 26, 2010 Ramen Noodles May Lead to Chronic Illness
By Althea Chang
Ramen noodles could be putting college students and frugal eaters at greater risk of developing chronic illness, according to a recent study.

The instant noodles have long been a staple for the cash-strapped, but they could be putting their fans at risk of further nutritional deficits already caused by a lack of affordable and fresh fruits and vegetables, suggests a study presented at a meeting of the Dietitians Association of Australia.

According to the study, conducted by Australian researchers Danielle Gallegos and Kai Wen Ong, one in four college students reported insecurity about being able to afford food.

Of those students, two-thirds said they ate two or less servings of fruit per week, suggesting that money spent on more-filling but sodium- and MSG-laden Ramen noodles and fast food takes away from funds that could be spent on healthy but less-filling fruits and vegetables.

Those who relied on instant noodles and other cheap food with little nutritional content were at greater risk of chronic diseases including cancer, diabetes and heart disease, the researchers found.

While the study was based in Australia, results seem to reflect conditions among college kids and low-income individuals across America as well.

http://www.mainstreet.com/article/lifestyle/food-drink/ramen-noodles-may-lead-chronic-illness?obref=obnetwork

[Lex]

1. The sodium in that "flavor packet" is enough to kill ya. nt

[1monster]

19. Back in the day when I was couldn't afford much good food, I'd buy those raman noodle

packets and throw away the "flavor" packets. I put some butter on the noodles and parmasan cheese, spaghetti sauce, or other flavoring.

Mmmm, this thread is making me hungry.

[TheKentuckian]

28. The problem is the noodles are shockingly high in fat and low in nutritional value

It's not so much food as belly filler that cost a lot on the other end with the fat from the noodles, the sodium from the flavoring, and nothing but some cheap carbs that keep you on your feet for a dime.

[PBS Poll-435]

2. I sprinkle the broken noodles over Breyer's natural vanilla ice cream.

I toss out the spice packet.



Quite the treat...

:9

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. How'd you even concoct that recipe? One day a package of ramen noodles

explodes next to your ice cream? :)

[PBS Poll-435]

5. Have the occasional craving for a home-made ice cream cone when doing brain work.

Problem was, I was out of sugar cones. :(

Looked through the kitchen cabinets looking for an acceptable substitute.


Voila!



:yoiks:

[Maru Kitteh]

60. Define "brain work" if ya don't mind. :-)

[PBS Poll-435]

61. Spreadsheets

Mind-numbing financial analysis.

Ice cream is a good distraction. :)

[damntexdem]

18. But you could mix the spice packet with chocolate fudge, and voila:

ice cream sundae!

;-)

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

4. Substitute Poverty for Ramen. The cost of fresh fruits and veggies can become very expensive.

[bobbolink]

64. Exactly right. Thank you. But there are so many DUers who would rather feel superior

by judging those who have less than they have

[Xithras]

6. Starvation may lead to chronic illness.

Most of my time in the kitchen in college was spent trying to find new and interesting ways to prepare ramen noodles. How else can you prepare an entire meal for less than 50 cents per person? Ramen, a couple of wafer thin slices of pork, and a couple of snow peas makes a reasonable imitation of a real Chinese dish. Ramen with a slice of cheese and parts of a lopped up hot dog (one hot dog can make 3-4 servings), makes a passable mac and cheese dog dish. Ramen, all by itself with its salt packet, makes a reasonable lunch for only about 15 cents. A single uncooked ramen packet can be snapped in half and makes two days worth of on-the-go snacks.

When the options are ramen or starvation, you don't complain about ramen. You get creative with it.

[Cirque du So-What]

7. I use ramen noodles as the base for a terrific soup

but the 'flavor packet' goes straight to the trash.

[Myrina]

9. Yep - I use the noodles for stir fry, rather than rice ...

... but definitely do NOT use the 'added flavor'.

:hi:

[Retrograde]

32. So do I

If there's a small amount of leftover meat in the house, it goes in (thinly sliced) with the ramen along with a handful of shredded vegetables - cabbage if there's any around, maybe carrots, peppers - and a grating of ginger. That's actually edible!

[bluestateguy]

8. It's better to just buy regular soup

It's not that much more expensive.

[uncommon]

20. It is that much more expensive - Ramen noodle's are about 25 cents a pop here - soup is $2 per can

or more depending on the type.

[Confusious]

22. Where do you live?

4 bucks for soup 59 cents for ramen

[1monster]

23. One box of ramen noodles (cups = 6 servings, packages = 12 serving) $1.25.

One can or bowl of "regular" soup = one, maybe 2 servings = $1.65.

Plenty more expensive if you are nearly at starvation levels.

Ramen is cheaper than cat food. And tastes better.

[Starry Messenger]

10. One of my professors in college completely ruined her health on these.

Sadly, it was all she could afford to really eat. She ended up having to take a year off to recover. They are filling and store well, and pack light. When you can buy a huge rack of them for a dollar and not have to worry about spoilage.

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. Better to buy spaghetti noodles, oatmeal, or brown rice. Cheap and a bit more nutritious

[JackintheGreen]

24. Where is brown rice cheap? n/t

[Lorien]

37. Costco. nt

[Starry Messenger]

27. Not cheap enough, I guess.

This was several years ago in North Oakland, CA. I don't think she drove either, so there were transportation issues. God, the pay at that school sucked, even thought they had a stellar faculty.

[Lorien]

36. I did as well when I was in college, but back then no one was warning us about

the health implications. Ramen noodles, Kraft macaroni and cheese and soda were staples of every starving student's diet. I'm amazed that we survived those years at all sometimes! These days people may know better, but with food prices getting ever higher the poor are screwn. The food they can afford will lead them to needing health care that they can't afford.

[Starry Messenger]

40. I lived on those lentil instant soups that came out in the '90's.

These days I can't even look at a lentil now. After what happened to our teacher, those of us who knew what had happened to her definitely tried to mix in up more in the diet dept. I didn't drive for a long time either and getting fresh food home on the bus those days was an ordeal. When you are poor, your choices are limited to what you can realistically take care of in the time you have. It's just a vicious cycle.

[csziggy]

56. A college friend lived for several years on mostly grits and peanut butter

This was back in the seventies before we'd ever heard of Ramen noodles.

He'd make up a big pan of cheese grits, cut it into wedges and eat a wedge each day. For variety, he kept a jar of peanut butter and would eat that with the little packs of crackers he'd steal off the tables at restaurants. A couple of times a month some of the others of us would take him out to dinner so he'd get something closer to real food.

[Dr.Phool]

12. I use them for a door stop.

Never could stand that shit.

[yawnmaster]

13. The ramen noodles aren't causing or lead to chronic illness...

that is a headline filled with hyperbole. It is the lack of nutritious food that leads to chronic illness.
Or perhaps it should be written as the lack of affordable nutritious foods.
Or lack of nutritional education may lead to chronic illness.
Or...many other less hype filled headlines.

Here's a better hyped headline...
"Removing ramen noodles from diet may lead to starvation and death"
" A recent study shows that by removing from one's diet the only food affordable, one risks starvation."

[Liquorice]

30. Ramen noodles has so much sodium that eating it frequently could cause health problems, even

if you ate nutritious food in addition to the ramen.

[Lorien]

38. Plus a lot of people have very bad reactions to MSG. nt

[thelordofhell]

14. The problem is people just don't know how to shop

At a 99cent store you can buy lot's of Ramen and then buy some canned proteins to go with it and then buy some bananas or other fruit. A whole weeks worth of main meals for under 10 bucks.

People just tend to go to the grocery store and buy stuff on sale that is still way overpriced if you compare to other places.

[wickerwoman]

31. Generic noodles at the grocery store are cheaper per serving than ramen.

I've never been that impressed by the savings at dollar stores or by Ramen noodles (I'm starving fifteen minutes after I eat them.) You save more on real food by buying bulk, generic brands at the supermarket and going to ethnic supermarkets for fruit, veggies and meat.

At the supermarket, I can get a kg of spaghetti for $1.05 which yields more than twelve servings.

For all the people throwing away the flavor packs from their ramen, you do know that generic spaghetti costs less and cooks in eight or nine minutes, right? And it isn't as loaded in salt and has more fiber.

When I'm really hard up, I go generic spaghetti (.08/serving), biggest can of tomatoes I can afford (.08/serving), onion and carrot from the Asian supermarket (.06/serving) and canned mackerel (.20/serving). Nutritionally balanced, filling and .42 a meal. It's still too much salt, but it's a hell of a lot better than Ramen noodles.

For people who can't afford fresh fruits and veggies, seriously, try your local ethnic supermarket. Mine does .29/kg specials on food that's close to going off but is still edible. That translates to carrots and onions for a few pennies each, kiwifruit or bananas for three or four cents each. I can get massive bunches of celery that make weeks worth of soup for fifty or sixty cents.

If you can afford Ramen noodles, you can afford generic bulk starches plus beans and fresh veggies. You just have to know where to shop.

[Mimosa]

49. ^ Absolutely right ^

Asian markets rock!

[tammywammy]

53. Also, Fiesta grocery around here has good prices on veggies

There's some Mexican groceries near me, but I haven't tried them yet.

[arbusto_baboso]

15. Can't be true. Flying Spaghetti Monster wouldn't allow it to be so.

It must just be people who aren't worthy of being touched by His noodly appendage!

[niyad]

16. a package of ramen noodles (WITHOUT the sodium pack), a can of tomatoes, mushrooms, and tuna

for about $2, you have several meals.

does anybody actually USE those disgusting flavor packs? pure sodium, enough to kill you

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. Unfortunately, less filling fruits and vegetables are full of fructose.

An unnatural sugar substitute known by top scientist to cause the aids.

Find out how to protect your family by tuning into News at Eleven.

[REP]

39. Vegetables are also full of vegetables

If I want to scare my husband, I show him a carrot.

(Yes, I know. But it seems lots of people won't eat vegetables unless they're deep-fried and covered in cheese, and have the vegetable part removed.)

[Lex]

58. high fructose corn syrup is not the same as natural fructose found in fruit

nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

63. Actually, yes, it is.

Fructose is fructose.

[Lance_Boyle]

65. well, it is technically a syrup made from that fructose

but fructose is fructose.

[XemaSab]

21. The other day I got 6 ramen packets for a dollar

How many pieces of fruit or cans of fish could I get for a dollar? And how many meals would that make?

(No, I'm not really that broke; I just had a ramen craving. I'm eating healthy foods for the other meals.)

[Kaleva]

25. Some folks are sick of Obama's chief of staff

[mike r]

26. They seem to be a major food group in Japan

Even Japan Airlines serves them on its flights.

[AnArmyVeteran]

29. Ramen Noodles: The Republican National Food

If we had perpetual republican control we would be eating 100% Ramen noodles and probably without the water, because water supplies are socialistic.

[guitar man]

33. they aren't so bad

As long as you remember to eat your vegetables with them



:sarcasm:

[undeterred]

42. I have a whole shelf full of them

which I'm saving for when the economy collapses.

[tammywammy]

34. I like the occasional cup of noodles

I add a raw egg to it and then when the noodles are soft, I drain the sodium laced broth out and add a splash of low sodium soy sauce. The cup of noodles has the dehydrated veggies in it. This is only a couple of times a year I eat them.

[jxnmsdemguy65]

35. Cheap food will kill 'ya...

while shopping at the health food store / organics will put you in the poorhouse...

Moderation in all things, as my mom used to say...

[elocs]

41. It is possible to eat decently and cheaply if one is will to cook & use whole ingredients.

I have used the Ramen noodles as a base for making lots of quick meals, but discarding the packet.

I can make some very inexpensive but nutritious meals using my pressure cooker. Dried beans are cheap as well as rice and I can concoct a very good bean soup that will last a week.

[Zoeisright]

52. Only if one has the means and energy to do so.

There are areas, especially in the inner city, called 'nutritional deserts' where the stores offer only crap. To get even raw legumes, people have to travel for miles to better areas with better grocery stores.

Also, if you suffer from depression, which is debilitating, going to all that effort to eat when a $1 fast food burger or ramen noodles will fill you up with much less effort, is just plain overwhelming.

I'm really sick of people saying 'they could eat better if they just wanted to make an effort'. If you haven't been poor, depressed, and hungry, go work at a soup kitchen.

[elocs]

57. Most college kids have the means and the energy, but lack the desire.

Poor, depressed, and hungry describe a subset of those who do not eat well, not the entire population. Many could do so if they made the choice. I refer to those who possess the ability to make good food choices and have the food availability, but choose to eat fast and lazy.

Without the flavor packet it is possible to use Ramen noodles as the base for many meals that are pretty good tasting and not too unhealthy.

[TK421]

43. I've been eating the whole thing for years!!! I'm surprised I'm still alive

but I was planning on eating some tomorrow in fact, but now maybe I'll go for something else

Nah...It's STILL about the only thing I can afford and if it kills me, so what? Like something else won't do that? These days EVERYTHING will kill you FFS...I'm so TIRED OF THIS SCARE TACTIC BULLSHIT!!!

[backscatter712]

44. SHOCKING! Eat nothing but ramen for long enough and you'll end up with scurvy! n/t

[WolverineDG]

45. I never caught the attraction of Ramen noodles

I have friends who swoon over them though. They're cheap & quick to fix, though, which are pretty high priorities for college students & those on a tight budget.

My parents had high blood pressure, so I was eating a low-sodium diet from the age of 8 or 9, & those things just tasted like a block of solid salt to me. bleah

dg

[TK421]

46. They ARE a block of solid salt...that's why most people avoid eating them daily

but for those of us who are unemployed and on a very strict budget, they do come in handy

When I do find a steady job again ( hopefully soon ) I can say goodbye to the things, but currently, at ten cents a pack they are a poor persons fillet mignon

[pitohui]

48. the flavor packet is separate from the noodles

there is no reason you can't use half a packet or less if you're worried abt sodium

in fact that's what i usu. do even tho i'm NOT worried abt sodium (low blood pressure)

[TK421]

59. yeah, I know...I've done the half-packet or substituted before

I'm certain there are better alternatives to ramen

[pitohui]

47. yeah the inventor died a young man, only age 96

if anything is cheap and good, trust those sellers of expensive pesticides wrapped around water known as modern fruits and vegetables to crap on it

i trust ramen noodles way before i trust a modern apple

you will be threatened w. death if you do ANYTHING to help yourself, saving thousands of dollars a year on food, by god, a pox on you baby!

[MrScorpio]

50. When I was in Korea and ate them on a regular basis, I never used the entire flavor packet

Even half of was was too much sometimes

[JonLP24]

51. That is too bad

I love those things and I eat them with the flavor packet and hot sauce every single time.

[theHandpuppet]

54. I think I'm still suffering...

... from the weeks I survived through graduate school on nothing but pickle loaf and crackers. Of course, that was before ramen arrived on the scene. I would have given my left arm for some ramen just to escape the pickle loaf monster.

[diane in sf]

55. Better to eat a burger, mcfishwich or rice and beans

[Roon]

62. My uncle never ate ramen, until he spent some time in jail

ramen from the commissary is like currency there. Now he picks it up from the grocery and eats it all the time at home.