As part of our exploration into salt, sodium and hypertension, we have touched on hidden salt, found within foods we consume and we might not be aware of. One popular and salty item enjoyed by many is instant noodles, for some an emergency supper, for other a daily snack. So, we browsed the local supermarket shelves to see how much is in a packet or serving.
We know that instant noodles are high salt, we were shocked by some of the products.
As ever, please talk to your doctor, or medical practitioner most familiar with your medical history before implementing any changes in diet, exercise or lifestyle; especially if you are under treatment.
We researched a selection of noodles, instant and 'plain' - as used for cooking. For reference, the daily maximum sodium allowance, as recommended by the Singapore health authorities is 2,000mg; 2,300mg in the US and UK.
Item | Brand | Type | Flavour | Serving (mg) | 100g (mg) |
1 | Nongshim | Instant, packet | Korean Clay Pot Ramyun | 2290 | 1910 |
2 | Nongshim | Instant, packet | Shi Ramyun Noodle Soup | 2077 | 1731 |
3 | Nissin | Instant, packet | Cup Noodles, Spicy Tonkotsu | 2070 | 1800 |
4 | Myojo | Instant, packet | Chicken Tanmen | 1850 | 2280 |
5 | Fair Price | Instant, packet | Nonya Curry Laksa | 1840 | 1472 |
6 | Nissin | Instant, packet | Cup Noodles, Mushroom Chicken | 1660 | 2270 |
7 | Prima | Instant, packet | Prawn Soup Wholegrain | 1634 | 908 |
8 | Myojo | Instant, packet | Chicken Abalone | 1620 | 2030 |
9 | Fair Price | Plain Noodle, white | Mee Suah | 568 | 1032 |
10 | Sun Brand | Plain Noodle, yellow | Egg Noodle | 342 | 342 |
11 | My Noodle | Plain Noodle, yellow | Hong Kong Fine Noodle | 212 | 170 |
12 | Megah Mee | Plain Noodle, yellow | Clay Pot Yee Mee | 90 | 120 |
13 | Tai Sun | Plain Noodle, white | Bee Hoon | 11 | 11 |
14 | Fair Price | Plain Noodle, white | Rice Vermicelli | 3 | 3 |
15 | Farmer Brand | Plain Noodle, yellow | Ban Mee (natural) | 0 | 0 |
Many of us probably know that instant noodles are loaded with salt. Note that the first 3 items have more sodium than the Singapore daily recommended allowance. And the other instant noodles are not far behind. Just in 1 packet of instant noodles.
Now it would be easy to dismiss instant noodles out of hand. But there is one category of people who might benefit from this food... endurance athletes. As a source of easily digestible carbohydrates with a salty soup, these could be used as a pre-workout snack to provide easy to digest energy and support electrolyte hydration.
For the rest of us... yes, do add some veggies if you eat them - because we all need to eat more veggies. But, for most, perhaps best to avoid.
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Stay Healthy,
Alastair
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Related Studies
Gan L, Zhao B, Inoue-Choi M, Liao LM, Graubard BI, Weinstein SJ, Albanes D, Huang J. Sex-specific associations between sodium and potassium intake and overall and cause-specific mortality: a large prospective U.S. cohort study, systematic review, and updated meta-analysis of cohort studies. BMC Med. 2024 Mar 22;22(1):132. doi: 10.1186/s12916-024-03350-x. PMID: 38519925; PMCID: PMC10960470.
Aliasgharzadeh S, Tabrizi JS, Nikniaz L, Ebrahimi-Mameghani M, Lotfi Yagin N. Effect of salt reduction interventions in lowering blood pressure: A comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials. PLoS One. 2022 Dec 7;17(12):e0277929. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0277929. PMID: 36477548; PMCID: PMC9728935.
Tan CH, Chow ZY, Ching SM, Devaraj NK, He FJ, MacGregor GA, Chia YC. Salt content of instant noodles in Malaysia: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open. 2019 May 1;9(4):e024702. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-024702. Erratum in: BMJ Open. 2019 Jul 31;9(7):e024702corr1. PMID: 31048428; PMCID: PMC6501963.
Farrand C, Charlton K, Crino M, Santos J, Rodriguez-Fernandez R, Ni Mhurchu C, Webster J. Know Your Noodles! Assessing Variations in Sodium Content of Instant Noodles across Countries. Nutrients. 2017 Jun 16;9(6):612. doi: 10.3390/nu9060612. PMID: 28621720; PMCID: PMC5490591.
Eyles H, Shields E, Webster J, Ni Mhurchu C. Achieving the WHO sodium target: estimation of reductions required in the sodium content of packaged foods and other sources of dietary sodium. Am J Clin Nutr. 2016 Aug;104(2):470-9. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.115.125146. Epub 2016 Jul 6. PMID: 27385612.
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