Why you might want to curb your ramen intake.
Who didn't eat ramen noodles multiple times a week during college? Unfortuantely, the habit could come with some serious health consequences: A new study from The Journal of Nutrition shows that consumption of instant noodles—precooked noodle-based meals you make by adding boiling water or heating in the microwave before eating—may increase the risk of a scary condition called cardiometabolic syndrome, which in turn can lead to heart disease, diabetes, or stroke.
Since Asian populations eat high quantities of instant noodles, Baylor University researchers looked at dietary information from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey IV from 2007 to 2009. They identified two major eating patterns: the "traditional dietary pattern" (TP), high in rice, fish, veggies, fruit, and potatoes; and the "meat and fast-food pattern" (MP), high in meat, soda, fried food, and convenience foods like instant noodles and ramen. Not surprisingly, the MP was associated with higher obesity rates and bad cholesterol levels, while the TP was associated with better blood-pressure readings and a lower risk of obesity—but neither showed a clear link to the risk of developing cardiometabolic syndrome.
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