If you are a long-time reader of this blog, it probably doesn’t surprise you to learn that I’m very convinced that highly processed grains are bad for our health. In fact I think that the unholy trinity of sugar, highly processed grains and seed oils are at the heart of the metabolic and obesity issues that are plaguing many parts of the world. However, I was not aware that there were fairly rigorous studies done on the effect one specific type of food, the ramen noodle, on a population.
In March of this year a new study was released that showed that a diet high in ramen noodles increases your risk of metabolic syndrome. A food questionaire was used in South Korea to divide people into different brackets for noodle intake. The questionaire was used to track 112 different types of food but the strong correlation to metabolic syndrome was only shown for noodle intake.
I certainly have my problems with Food Frequency Questionnaires because in America they were used for a long time to show a correlation between meat intake and cancer without revealing that most of the “meat” tracked was in hamburgers and other sandwiches so you couldn’t tell if the problem was the meat or the buns and sugary condiments. Knowing that, I’m certainly open to the idea that in the future there will be other issues that come up with this study but it seems solid and in line with other studies done in 2017 that showed high noodle consumption was correlated with cardiometabolic issues and one from 2023 that showed essentially the same thing.
These studies are showing what I first learned over a decade ago which is anything that raises your blood sugar and insulin levels is going to cause metabolic problems over time but the worst food are the ones that don’t just raise your levels, but spike it. Foods that are high in carbs but also fiber take longer to digest and cause a much slower rise in blood sugar and the pancreas can put out a much lower level of insulin over time to handle the increase in blood sugar. Foods that spike blood sugar, like instant ramen noodles that have no fiber, cause a much quicker rise in blood sugar which necessitates a massive dump of insulin to deal with it.
Again, every gain I’ve enjoyed in my health over the last 10 years has come from removing these highly processed grains (and sugar and seed oils) from my diet. On top of the massive weight loss, I no longer have asthma or many of the other issues I’ve dealt with over the years.
