INFLUENCER Lucy Mourad was hospitalized with kidney stones after eating packaged ramen noodles for six months.
The TikToker said she blames the salty food for the stones forming and ultimately landing her in the emergency room.
4
4
4
4
“POV all that Buldak noodles you ate actually sent you to the emergency room,” Mourad (@lucy-mourad) wrote in a brief clip showing her in a hospital gown lying on a gurney.
The 24-year-old allegedly ate Buldak noodles – a popular brand of South Korean instant noodles – weekly for several months.
“RIP to Buldak, I will miss you but my kidneys won’t,” she captioned the post.
Now she has opened up about the experience and explained why she thinks people need to be more careful when consuming high-sodium snacks.
“Buldak ramen… It’s a big contributing factor,” she said Daily Mail in a recent interview.
The thick noodles are quickly cooked in hot water and seasoned with a packet of spicy powder to create a variety of flavors like Hot Chicken Rakisoba and Hot Chicken Carbonara.
This spice packet contains 1,280 milligrams of salt per serving—about half a person’s recommended daily allowance.
Mourad said she had been “eating more and more” ramen “over the last few months” when she started experiencing symptoms.
The pain started in her back, she said, and eventually reached her stomach, causing her to double over in pain.
She also noticed changes in her urine.
Doctors must break up or remove kidney stones through surgery to give relief to the patient.
A SAVORY SUSPICIOUS
The cramps were caused by crystals forming in her bladder and starting to turn into kidney stones, New York urologist Dr. David Shusterman told the Daily Mail.
The crystals and stones can be caused by a diet high in sodium chloride, Shusterman said.
He said it was “possible” that Buldak ramen caused Mourad’s illness because “processed and canned products are loaded with tons of salt.”
He compared the more than 1,200 milligrams of salt found in Buldak noodles to the roughly 600 milligrams found in a bag of salt and vinegar or an average frozen dinner.
“This means…eating processed foods such as instant noodles, soups, frozen meals, etc. can lead to the formation of kidney stones.”
Some spices, such as turmeric, can also significantly increase a person’s chances of forming kidney stones by increasing levels of a chemical called oxalate in the urine.
The USDA recommends that people eat no more than 2,300 milligrams of salt per day — or about a teaspoon.
THE DANGERS OF HIGH SALT CONSUMPTION
Salt, or sodium chloride (NaCl), is necessary in the human diet to facilitate electrical pulses, osmosis, and several other important bodily functions.
Adults need at least 500 milligrams of salt per day for healthy functioning, according to researchers at Harvard.
The USDA recommends that adults consume less than 2,300 milligrams per day through different foods — but the average American consumes 3,400 milligrams per day.
When you consume much more salt than necessary, it can cause several health problems, including:
- High pressure
- Heart disease
- stroke
- Calcium loss
- Swelling
- Gastric problems
- Water retention
- Weight gain
- Sleep badly
- Fatigue
NOT THE FIRST
Mourad’s six-second clip went viral soon after she posted it last month.
More than 1.6 million people liked the video and several left comments sharing their own stories of anguish over eating too much ramen.
“Finally someone is posting the effects. I ended up in the hospital too! And now I also have acid reflux and IBS. On a very restrictive diet,” commented a user named Saadiqah.
“It literally happened to me that I had horrible gastritis [stomach upset] for two weeks, I couldn’t eat,” added another TikToker named Jas.
And other popular products that many people consider harmless could also be harming you.
A 29-year-old man needed surgery after suffering a collapsed lung when years of vaping caught up with him and put him in hospital.
Mourad did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The US Sun.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
