Silke Jasso
Instant noodles are a leading cause of burns among children, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Chicago Medicine. The study was published in the journal “Burns.” The study analyzed 790 cases of children suffering from burn injuries between 2010 and 2020 finding that 31% of the injuries (245 patients) involved instant noodles.
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The study also discovered that children who were left unsupervised while heating up the noodles were at a higher risk of getting burned, with 40% of the burns happening when children wern’t under supervision. Senior author Sebastian Vrouwe, an assistant professor of surgery at UChicago Medicine, said, “Anecdotally, it felt like every other child we were consulted on for a burn was injured by instant noodles, so we wanted to dive into the data to see what the trend really was.”
Vrouwe went on to say that the heat produced while heating the noodles can result in second and third-degree burns. “Young children are particularly vulnerable due to their relatively smaller bodies and thinner skin,” he stated, urging parents to monitor kids whenever preparing the noodles at home.
Researchers stated that starchy liquid that forms when instant noodles are cooked has been shown to leave several unique patterns that are compared with a hot water burn, leaving children to hospitalization. In most cases, this requires surgery such as skin grafting in more severe cases.
This isn’t the first time noodles have been linked to causes of burns. According to BuzzFeed News, The American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference released a study in 2018 that found the sups comprised 1 in 5 scald burns which sent kids to the ER manually between 2006 and 2016.
Researchers found that the products were the cause of more than 9,500 burn injuries amount children aged 4 to 12 with the torso being the most frequently burned area.
