By Jessica Ocotl-Ocelotl

Have you heard of the famous noodle brand Buldak? They are one of the biggest and most well known noodle industry companies. They come in a variety of different flavors and they satisfy people’s tastebuds. However, this brand actually does more harm to your body than you think it would. It has come to an issue that people have been feeling unwell eating this type of ramen due to the artificial taste.

Two people I asked who have eaten buldak before have started to feel unwell. They both don’t over consume these noodles often but they can’t help but feel odd when eating them a few times.

 “I’ve actually been feeling a little unwell from eating buldak ramen now,” says Jianna, a sophomore at Memorial, “but it’s weird since this never happened before.” Jianna doesn’t like how the ramen is starting to change its texture and flavour amount. 

Throughout the years there have been companies who try to make something with their ingredients. Others like the new flavour and there are people who don’t like it at all. But as well as one thing companies do intend to raise the artificial flavors in packaging which can cause serious problems.

Another student Raquel, who is also a 10th grader, stated “I just don’t really like the taste of it anymore and also considering how unhealthy it is.” In the end both Jianna and Raquel don’t like the artificial taste the Buldak ramen has to offer and how increasingly unhealthy it is to consume it.

Notice how both of these students stated how the artificial flavour is strong.  Same goes for the amount of sodium and capsaicin. These high portions can cause health problems for the human body. All of this is stated down below to what high capsaicin can do.

After viewing many different articles all of them stated how the Buldak ramen noodles have a huge concerning amount of capsaicin. Consuming high amounts of capsaicin can harm the human body with stomach pains, nausea, vomiting, and high blood pressure. Knowing this, the Buldak company has placed a hazard warning for mostly young kids and frail adults. In the article Korean Spicy Noodles Recalled Over ‘Health Hazard’, it states how Buldak produces an “acute poisoning”. Just recently these packets have also been placing down warnings that it can give you cancer if consumed too much. People have been shocked to see these warning signs that they talked about too stating how the artificial flavor has also increased. In another article “Is Buldak Ramen Bad For You?”, a serving packet is 70% over the sodium recommended daily limit. Eating this much ramen can affect your diet greatly. If you have a history of diabetes or high consumption of sodium, eating buldak can increase the risk of cancer, hypertension, heart disease, stroke and kidney failure.

Looking back, I noticed how 4 of my siblings dropped the brand of Buldak and started eating a better option of instant ramen called Maruchan. The two people I interviewed also have dropped the Buldak ramen, they either stopped eating any source of ramen or they started eating a healthier option in ramen.