Mama Noodles Will Kill You

[Thaiquila]

OK, during my salad days I lived on instant ramen, like many starving students. Now in Thailand, I have discovered the wonderfully tasty varieties of Thai instant noodles (not the mention the Korean, Japanese, etc. imported ones).

So, being somewhat health conscious, I checked into the nutrition of same.

Bad news!

They have white carbos (not that bad but can lead to diabetes).

They have lots of salt (also not so bad in a tropical climate where you need more salt).

But what is SO BAD, is that they are almost always FRIED in PALM OIL, which really is so bad, and apparantly clogs your arteries.

Aw shucks!

http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/97/0411/feat2.html

Edited April 19, 2005 by Thaiquila

[brianbrain]

Thaiquila,

I have no expertise in the subject of nutrition, but I had been wondering about the value of palm oil myself. You may find this interesting...

http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/97/0411/feat2.html

Palm Oil

A bad rap in the eighties.

As palm oil gained popularity in the U.S. in the eighties, a campaign was waged against all tropical oils—not by the scientific community or the FDA—but by American manufacturers of hydrogenated vegetable oils. Much of this negative advertising was eventually stopped, by law, but not before it successfully destroyed demand for tropical oils in this country. Ultimately, popular opinion forced U.S. food manufacturers to switch to synthetic hydrogenated oils. These hydrogenated oils are supplied, not surprisingly, by the very same companies who started the campaign against palm oil. While this was a very good deal for hydrogenated-oil manufacturers, it was a bad deal for American consumers—and a bad rap for palm oil. As a result, added palm oil tends to raise a red flag in the minds of consumers who formed strong opinions about it during that era.

Why use palm oil?

Palm oil (not to be confused with palm kernel oil, which is far richer in saturated fat and lower in monounsaturated fat than the oil from the fruit of the plant) is used widely today in many parts of the world without the dire health consequences prophesied in the United States in the eighties. For exam-ple, the Europeans—to whom we often look for a higher level of culinary and nutritional sophistication—have a rich tradition of using palm oil in their baked goods and confections. We chose it for a couple of our products because we wanted to create natural, healthier alternatives to the supermarket brands, but with comparable texture. Theirs contain synthetic hydrogenated vegetable oils; ours are all-natural and mostly organic. The oil won’t rise to the top in our peanut butter, and it tastes great.

* Unlike other natural oils, palm oil is stable at room temperature.

* Palm oil dissolves uniformly when heated and solidifies as it cools, without separating from the food. This effect binds baked goods so they won’t fall apart and creates a desirably homogenous, creamy texture in peanut butter.

* Palm oil increases a food’s shelf life.

* Unlike synthetic hydrogenated oils, palm oil contains nutrients, like other natural oils.

* Palm oil has a pleasant flavor.

Although palm oil’s stability is due mostly to its relatively rich saturated-fat content – when compared to many less stable natural liquid cooking oils – the alternative for a similar effect is "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil," the ubiquitous euphemism for synthetically saturated monounsaturated fat, a.k.a. "trans fat." If "saturated monounsaturated" looks like an oxymoron, that’s because it is. The presto-chango hydrogenation of oils is alchemic sleight-of-hand, which carries a whole host of known health risks that far outweigh anything associated with natural cooking oils. And the popular supermarket brands of peanut butter and crackers use these synthetic hydrogenated fats. We believe that natural oils are always preferable to hydrogenated oils—just as natural butter is preferable to hydrogenated margarine.

OK, during my salad days I lived on instant ramen, like many starving students. Now in Thailand, I have discovered the wonderfully tasty varieties of Thai instant noodles (not the mention the Korean, Japanese, etc. imported ones).

So, being somewhat health conscious, I checked into the nutrition of same.

Bad news!

They have white carbos (not that bad but can lead to diabetes).

They have lots of salt (also not so bad in a tropical climate where you need more salt).

But what is SO BAD, is that they are almost always FRIED in PALM OIL, which really is so bad, and apparantly clogs your arteries.

Aw shucks!

http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/97/0411/feat2.html

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[brianbrain]

As an aside, I should mention that I normally have my mama noodles boiled and then fried again, with re-fried pork. ผัดมาม่าหมูกรอบ (pud mama moo grob) Now that's a sure way to clog up your arteries.

[DJ Pat]

McDonalds fries in Thailand:

Aren't real potato, and are fried in palm oil.

Enjoy your happy meal.

[Thaiquila]

It is fair to conclude that it is OK to look at Mama Noodles like you would look at a hamburger. Eating either once in a while won't kill you (unless you are already seriously ill) but eating them frequently is almost definitely bad for your health.

Bon appetit Mama!

I can't help but notice this typical sight at Tesco Lotus: shopping cart filled to the brim with ONLY these two items: instant noodle packs and bottles of Coca Cola.

I see a future for the fat farm business in Thailand!

Edited April 22, 2005 by Thaiquila

[Titus]

There's a brand of instant noddles that are air dried (not fried) and are virtually fat free. I don't recall the name but it's japanese looking, they sell them at 7-11s, they are more expensive than fried noddles though at 10bath per package. You can also buy them at Tops for 5.75baht, delicious and low fat! And dont forget the other types of instant noddles, the ones made of rice, mung bean flour etc, they are all fat free and cook just as fast.

[Thaiquila]

There's a brand of instant noddles that are air dried (not fried) and are virtually fat free. I don't recall the name but it's japanese looking, they sell them at 7-11s, they are more expensive than fried noddles though at 10bath per package. You can also buy them at Tops for 5.75baht, delicious and low fat! And dont forget the other types of instant noddles, the ones made of rice, mung bean flour etc, they are all fat free and cook just as fast.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for that Titus.

If you happen to find the brand name, please let us know. Does the package say air dried on it? I was looking for air dried and didn't see any; the article I posted noted that the few air dried offerings do not sell that as a feature, which or course would be helpful. Do these Japan noodles come with instant flavoring? Of course, I know about buying the actual noodles like mung bean noodles, but that would mean actually doing some cooking of a soup.

[Titus]

If I remember right the package says "Myojo", the way to see that it is indeed air dried is by checking the nutrional facts in back of the package, it has only a gram or so of fat. They are the only ones that cost 10 baht at 7-11, the come in different flavours (original, shoyu etc), I personally buy the smaller/cheaper (5.75) ones at Tops, the flavours are "hot and spicy", "original" and "crab".

The instant mung bean or rice noddles I was referring to, come in single serving packages with different types of flavours (just like regular noddles). So it doesn't take any extra effort , you just put them in boiling water.

[mbkudu]

Hydrogonated oil, otherwise known as trans fat is now being phased out of most processed foods in the US because it has been proven to cause heart disease. These massive food corporations are absolute bastards that are looking only at profit margins and could care less about health. Food companies, pharmacuetical companies, hospitals and health insurance companies in the USA

all work in conjunction to MAKE MONEY. Figure it out. Trans fats give food a longer shelf life and make it slightly cheaper to manufacture. The only reason these are being phased out is because people are shunning anything which contains them.

[pal78]

Totally mbkudu! They're scum, and they don't really care about it. For a even more in your face example of this what about the cigarette companies, governments.. etc. They're still fighting for their right to sell toxic products that only serve one purpose.... kill people. Well.. they also generate money for governments and give hospitals more work.

It would be great if we could do something about it. Other things that are bad for your health include most artificial sweeteners. Aspartame, used in diet coke and other "diet" food products is bad for you, but it'll likely be years before people start getting sick from it so that it can be proved a health risk and removed from the shelves. In the mean time what has been proven is that artificial sweeteners increase your likelihood to "seek out" sugar in other forms and result in hindering your weight loss efforts rather than helping.

http://joi.ito.com/archives/2002/10/26/is_...ad_for_you.html

[h90]

I read that all with great fun, actually I have masterdegree (how ever to spell that in english) in Food technologie.

What you here complain about is really just a little visible piece of the true.

Food technologie is a dirty job and really the only thing is to save one more cent/1000 kg without braking the law.

If that is good for the body or not, is really not interesting.

There are 3 points:

marketing (something natural is OK if it sells better)

cut on the costs, competition is strong and people are willing to spend some more money for their new car, but not for their food.

not get problems with the law.

If they can replace strawberries with bullshit and artifical flavour, they will do it, they shareholder want to see profit.

If you want good food, go to small farmer, buy meat and fruits there and cook yourself.