undefined | Better HN

0 pointsmarcusb1y ago0 comments

I knew a woman[0] who ate nothing but ramen noodles for six months during her freshman year at college. She collapsed in class and had to be taken to the ER. I forget what all was wrong with her, but she was at least severely malnourished and, if I recall correctly, had also developed a proper antique disease like scurvy.

0 - loosely, in a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend way

0 comments

11 comments · 5 top-level

harimau7771y ago· 3 in thread

Apparently in the UK baked beans are fortified with vitamin C because baked beans on toast is such a common staple food for college students.

proaralyst1y ago

This was a compelling idea, so I looked it up. Unfortunately it doesn't appear to be true: https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/253034146

sincarne1y ago

I don’t know that they’d need to be, though. British-style baked beans come in tomato sauce. I just checked my tins, and they’re 36% tomato according to the ingredients list. Unfortunately they’re not that cheap anymore. We pay over CDN$2+tax per tin these days if you buy the multipack. A far cry from the CDN$1.50 all-in those Tesco beans would be.

1 more reply

harimau7771y ago

Interesting, it's something I heard from a co-worker who grew up in the UK. So perhaps its some sort of urban legend there. Thanks for the check!

1024core1y ago· 1 in thread

I heard that the only known case of scurvy in the US in the past few decades was one such student who lived only on Top Ramen.

sellmesoap1y ago

A friend of mine doing pre-med about 20 years ago said there were a couple of cases of scurvy at her university from the ramen/vodka diet some had chosen. I think the student union started handing out juice boxes and the problem was solved™

mauvehaus1y ago· 1 in thread

What was wrong with her almost certainly wasn't hyponatremia[0].

I love ramen as much as the next person, but I wouldn't try to make it the entirety of my diet.

[0] low salt levels in your blood: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyponatremia

FrustratedMonky1y ago

If living on Ramen, you are definitely not having a problem with low salt. Maybe opposite, high blood pressure from excessive salt.

neilv1y ago· 1 in thread

I actually mentioned scurvy because a friend of a friend had this happen to them in college. (Maybe we're talking about the same person.)

Friend thought they wouldn't have gotten scurvy, if they prepared the instant ramen with the seasoning packet, but they ate only the noodles brick. I don't know what brand ramen it was, but the Maruchan and Nissin nutrition info I looked at just now doesn't show any Vitamin C currently.

cogman101y ago

What's sort of crazy is it takes a very small amount of vitamin C occasionally to avoid scurvy. Basically, if once a month you get the RDA of vitamin C you are unlikely to get scurvy. Throw some broccoli or brussels sprout into a meal rotation and you'll be scurvy free.

datadrivenangel1y ago

Friend of a freind got scurvy studying architecture. Senior year was so intense that they basically spent the entire time inside eating vending machine snacks.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse