Is it true or possible in any way,that instant noodles can give you cancer?

Question

My friend told me her uncle died(cancer) from eating too much instant noodles,like, TOO MUCH. I was kind of amazed because i pretty much eat instant noodles a lot. I don't believe it though..i asked my parents and they said no its impossible. Idk what to believe..any help? Just wondering.

Answer 1

breathing can give you cancer. are you going to stop breathing?

if anything, i'd be concerned about the sodium content

Answer 2

SUSAN!!!

if ur gonna die by eating noodle..i will also eat alotta noodles and suicide! :(

but as far as my knowlege goes...uhmmm u cant die by eatting noodles....

Answer 3

I think the point is MSG. It is an artificial form of a compound naturally present in chinese salsas and other fermented food.

It is used by the nervous system.

MSG is usually useful. For example, if you block the receptors for MSG with chemical agents or ethanol (alcohol) before and during childhood, many brain cells are killed and you get an "alcohol" idiot.

Yet, trouble in MSG metabolism can be damageable for these cells (neurons, myeline cells, gliale cells): at least, searchers detect  a high MSG concentration in diseases such as Alzheimer's and Multiple Sclerosis.

But, I don't know whether ingested MSG can go in the blood, then in the neural system.

Many cells outside the nervous system have receptors for MSG. It has been proved that blocking these receptors slow the growth of a cancer. Does that mean that too much MSG in blood does make cancer grow faster ?

Answer 4

Anything instant can't be good for you because the nutrition has been cooked out of it before it was packaged.

Answer 5

They are very high in salt.  I don't know how they could cause an illness other than from lack of nutritional content.  However, the process of how they are made is rather...interesting.

Answer 6

As someone said, "life is a disease and it's 100% terminal."

We're still learning about cancer, and its causes, but research has shown that overexposure to just about anything can cause cancer.  Although in most cases, we're talking about ingesting such huge amounts that you'd die long before from other causes - such as your stomach exploding - than from cancer.

The flavor packet in the instant noodles is almost nothing but salt, sugar, and chemicals like MSG.  It certainly wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility for your friend's uncle to have had some sort of reaction to something, which could have helped his body develop cancer.

Furthermore, instant noodles by themselves aren't very nutritious.  There's only some carbohydrates from the noodles, a ton of salt, and that's about it.  More than likely, if noodles were the main part of his diet, he probably developed high blood pressure from all the salt, which can cause other problems - including a heart attack and death.

I have heard about a college student who dropped dead at his graduation.  Apparently he was trying to save money, so he had basically only eaten instant noodles for the past several years.  He died of malnutrition, not from the noodles themselves.

Answer 7

Instant noodles/ramen are pretty high in sodium, carbs, and saturated/trans fats (not quite as bad w/o the seasoning, but still bad). A pack of ramen can have 500 calories. I'm not a doctor, so I don't know if ramen itself can cause cancer; however, I do think it's likely that it would *contribute* to cancer in a person who is already susceptible to it and/or eats a lot of similar low-nutrient, high-fat, unhealthy foods. I would ask your friend what her uncle's overall eating habits were (and lifestyle as well).

And besides, it *is* instant noodles--that means it's processed; it's not 'real' food, which can't be that good for anyone.

Answer 8

If you believe everything you read, the following can give you cancer:

water, cigarettes, wine, beer, any alcohol, processed food (that means 99 percent of what we eat and drink), the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the gasoline we buy, electricity, microwaves, gas stoves, BBQ smoke, BBQ food, etc., etc.

Just take everything in moderation and you'll be fine.