SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Kim Min-koo has an easy reply to new American research that hits South Korea where it hurts — in the noodles. Drunk and hungry just after dawn, he rips the lid off a bowl of his beloved fast food, wobbling on his feet but still defiant over a report that links instant noodles to health hazards. 
 
 In this Aug. 19. 2014, customers eat "ramyeon" instant noodle at a ramyeon restaurant in Seoul, South Korea. Instant noodles are an essential, even passionate, part of life for many in South Korea and... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Aug. 19. 2014 photo, a cook prepares "ramyeon" instant noodles for Han Seung-youn, left, during an interview at a ramyeon restaurant in Seoul, South Korea. Instant noodles are an essential, even... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Aug. 18. 2014 photo, an employee fills in shelves with packages of "ramyeon" instant noodles at a shopping center in Seoul, South Korea. By value, instant noodles were the top-selling manufactured... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014 photo, a child eats instant noodle at a train station in Beijing. China is the world’s largest instant noodle market, according to World Instant Noodles Association, although... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Aug. 18. 2014 photo, customers pick up a package of "ramyeon" instant noodles in a basket at a shopping center in Seoul, South Korea. By value, instant noodles were the top-selling manufactured... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2014 photo, Japanese instant ramen noodle expert Masaya “Sokusekisai” Oyama, 55, slurps noodles at a shop and restaurant specialized only in varieties of instant noodles in Tokyo.... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014 photo, a Chinese boy eats instant noodles at the waiting lounge of the south train station in Beijing. China is the world’s largest instant noodle market, according to World... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014 photo, a woman and a man eat instant noodles as they wait for their train at a waiting lounge of the south train station in Beijing. China is the world’s largest instant... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2014 photo, Japanese instant ramen noodle expert Masaya “Sokusekisai” Oyama, 55, speaks at a shop and restaurant specialized only in varieties of instant noodles in Tokyo. Oyama... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014 photo, a woman holds a plastic bag with a bowl of instant noodles and other snacks on her luggage at a waiting lounge of the south train station in Beijing. China is the... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Monday, Aug. 18, 2014 photo, Japanese instant noodle lover Miyuki Ogata, a 33-year-old director for films and TV shows, eats an instant cup noodle in Tokyo. Instant noodles are a godsend for Ogata... (Associated Press) 
 
 "There's no way any study is going to stop me from eating this," says Kim, his red face beaded with sweat as he adds hot water to his noodles in a Seoul convenience store. His mouth waters, wooden chopsticks poised above the softening strands, his glasses fogged by steam. At last, he spears a slippery heap, lets forth a mighty, noodle-cooling blast of air and starts slurping. 
 
 "This is the best moment — the first bite," Kim, a freelance film editor who indulges about five times a week, says between gulps. "The taste, the smell, the chewiness — it's just perfect." 
 
 Instant noodles carry a broke college student aura in America, but they are an essential, even passionate, part of life for many in South Korea and across Asia. Hence the emotional heartburn caused by a Baylor Heart and Vascular Hospital study in the United States that linked instant noodles consumption by South Koreans to some risks for heart disease. 
 
 The study has provoked feelings of wounded pride, mild guilt, stubborn resistance, even nationalism among South Koreans, who eat more instant noodles per capita than anyone in the world. Many of those interviewed vowed, like Kim, not to quit. Other noodle lovers offered up techniques they swore kept them healthy: taking Omega-3, adding vegetables, using less seasoning, avoiding the soup. Some dismissed the study because the hospital involved is based in cheeseburger-gobbling America. 
 
 The heated reaction is partly explained by the omnipresence here of instant noodles, which, for South Koreans, usually mean the spicy, salty "ramyeon" that costs less than a dollar a package. Individually-wrapped disposable bowls and cups are everywhere: Internet cafes, libraries, trains, ice-skating rinks. Even at the halfway point of a trail snaking up South Korea's highest mountain, hikers can refresh themselves with cup noodles. 
 
 Elderly South Koreans often feel deep nostalgia for instant noodles, which entered the local market in the 1960s as the country began clawing its way out of the poverty and destruction of the Korean War into what's now Asia's fourth-biggest economy. Many vividly remember their first taste of the once-exotic treat, and hard-drinking South Koreans consider instant noodles an ideal remedy for aching, alcohol-laden bellies and subsequent hangovers. 
 
 Some people won't leave the country without them, worried they'll have to eat inferior noodles abroad. What could be better at relieving homesickness than a salty shot of ramyeon? 
 
 "Ramyeon is like kimchi to Koreans," says Ko Dong-ryun, 36, an engineer from Seoul, referring to the spicy, fermented vegetable dish that graces most Korean meals. "The smell and taste create an instant sense of home." 
 
 Ko fills half his luggage with instant noodles for his international business travels, a lesson he learned after assuming on his first trip that three packages would suffice for six days. "Man, was I wrong. Since then, I always make sure I pack enough." 
 
 The U.S. study was based on South Korean surveys from 2007-2009 of more than 10,700 adults aged 19-64, about half of them women. It found that people who ate a diet rich in meat, soda and fried and fast foods, including instant noodles, were associated with an increase in abdominal obesity and LDL, or "bad," cholesterol. Eating instant noodles more than twice a week was associated with a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome, another heart risk factor, in women but not in men. 
 
 The study raises important questions, but can't prove that instant noodles are to blame rather than the overall diets of people who eat lots of them, cautions Alice Lichtenstein, director of the cardiovascular nutrition lab at Tufts University in Boston. 
 
 "What's jumping out is the sodium (intake) is higher in those who are consuming ramen noodles," she says. "What we don't know is whether it's coming from the ramen noodles or what they are consuming with the ramen noodles." 
 
 There's certainly a lot of sodium in those little cups. A serving of the top-selling instant ramyeon provides more than 90 percent of South Korea's recommended daily sodium intake. 
 
 Still, it's tough to expect much nutrition from a meal that costs around 80 cents, says Choi Yong-min, 44, marketing director for Paldo, a South Korean food company. "I can't say it's good for your health, but it is produced safely." 
 
 By value, instant noodles were the top-selling manufactured food in South Korea in 2012, the most recent year figures are available, with about 1.85 trillion won ($1.8 billion) worth sold, according to South Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. 
 
 China is the world's largest instant noodle market, according to the World Instant Noodles Association, although its per capita consumption pales next to South Korea's. The food is often a low-end option for Chinese people short of money, time or cooking facilities. 
 
 Japan, considered the spiritual home of instant noodles, boasts a dazzling array. Masaya "Instant" Oyama, 55, who says he eats more than 400 packages of instant noodles a year, rattles off a sampling: Hello Kitty instant noodles, polar bear instant noodles developed by a zoo, black squid ink instant noodles. 
 
 In Tokyo, 33-year-old Miyuki Ogata considers instant noodles a godsend because of her busy schedule and contempt for cooking. They also bring her back to the days when she was a poor student learning to become a filmmaker, and would buy two cup noodles at the 100 yen shop. Every time she eats a cup now, she is celebrating what she calls "that eternal hungry spirit." 
 
 In South Korea, it's all about speed, cost and flavor. 
 
 Thousands of convenience stores have corners devoted to noodles: Tear off the top, add hot water from a dispenser, wait a couple minutes and it's ready to eat, often at a nearby counter. 
 
 Some even skip the water, pounding on the package to break up the dry noodles, adding the seasoning, then shaking everything up. 
 
 "It's toasty, chewy, much better than most other snacks out there," Byon Sarah, 28, who owns a consulting company, says of a technique she discovered in middle school. "And the seasoning is so addictive — sweet, salty and spicy." 
 
 Cheap electric pots that boil water for instant noodles in one minute are popular with single people. Making an "instant" meal even faster, however, isn't always appreciated. 
 
 At the comic book store she runs in Seoul, Lim Eun-jung, 42, says she noticed a lot more belly fat about six months after she installed a fast-cooking instant noodle machine for customers. 
 
 "It's obvious that it's not good for my body," Lim says. "But I'm lazy, and ramyeon is the perfect fast food for lazy people." 
 
 ___ 
 
 AP journalists Youkyung Lee in Seoul, Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo, Didi Tang and Zhang Weiqun in Beijing, and AP Food Editor J.M. Hirsch in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this story. 
 
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 Follow Foster Klug, AP's Seoul bureau chief, on Twitter at twitter.com/APklug. ||||| Photo 
 
 Instant noodles are cheap, convenient, and tasty to many. Now for the bad news. 
 
 Researchers in South Korea, where instant noodle consumption is the highest in the world, studied 10,711 adults, a representative sample of the Korean population enrolled in a large survey of health and nutrition. They found two major dietary patterns â€” the â€œtraditional diet,â€? of fish, rice and vegetables, and the â€œmeat and fast-foodâ€? regimen, rich in meat and processed food, including instant noodles. 
 
 Neither diet as a whole was associated with metabolic syndrome â€” the constellation of symptoms that includes abdominal obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol and blood sugar levels, which may increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes. 
 
 But the study, in the August issue of The Journal of Nutrition, found that independent of other factors, women who ate instant noodles at least twice a week were 68 percent more likely to have metabolic syndrome. 
 
 The effect was not apparent in men. According to the senior author, Dr. Frank B. Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard, this may be because women report their diet more accurately or because postmenopausal women are more sensitive to the dietary effect of carbohydrates, sodium and saturated fat. 
 
 In any case, Dr. Hu said, instant noodles are not part of a healthy diet. â€œOnce or twice a month is not a problem,â€? he said. â€œBut a few times a week really is.â€? ||||| Abstract 
 
 The consumption of instant noodles is relatively high in Asian populations. It is unclear whether a higher intake of instant noodles is associated with cardiometabolic risk independent of overall dietary patterns. We therefore investigated the association using the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey IV 2007–2009, a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of the Korean population with a clustered, multistage, stratified, and rolling sampling design. A total of 10,711 adults (54.5% women) 19–64 y of age were analyzed, with adjustment for sampling design complexity. Diet was assessed by using a 63-item food-frequency questionnaire. We identified 2 major dietary patterns with the use of principal components analysis: the “traditional dietary pattern” (TP), rich in rice, fish, vegetables, fruit, and potatoes, and the “meat and fast-food pattern” (MP), with less rice intake but rich in meat, soda, fried food, and fast food including instant noodles. The highest MP quintile was associated with increased prevalence of abdominal obesity (OR: 1.41; 95% CI: 1.05, 1.90), LDL cholesterol ≥130 mg/dL (1.3 g/L) (OR: 1.57, 95% CI 1.26, 1.95), decreased prevalence of low HDL cholesterol (OR: 0.65; 95% CI: 0.53, 0.80), and high triglycerides [≥150 mg/dL (1.5 g/L); OR: 0.73; 95% CI: 0.57, 0.93]. The highest quintile for the TP was associated with decreased prevalence of elevated blood pressure (OR: 0.73; 95% CI: 0.59, 0.90) and marginally lower trends for abdominal obesity (OR: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.58, 0.98; P-trend = 0.06), but neither of the dietary patterns was associated with prevalence of metabolic syndrome. The consumption of instant noodles ≥2 times/wk was associated with a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome (OR: 1.68; 95% CI: 1.10, 2.55) in women but not in men (OR: 0.93; 95% CI: 0.58, 1.49; P-interaction = 0.04). The 2 major dietary patterns were associated with distinct cardiometabolic risk factors. The consumption of instant noodles was associated with increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome in women, independent of major dietary patterns.
– Think of this the next time you slurp a cheap cup of hot ramen noodles: It could be linked to heart disease, especially if you're a woman, the AP reports. A new American study of South Korea's ramen consumption examined the diets of 10,700 people aged 19 to 64. They found both healthy (fish and rice) and unhealthy (meat and fast food) diet trends, but neither was linked to metabolic syndrome and ultimately heart disease, the New York Times explains. When instant noodles were thrown in the mix, researchers saw trouble. Women who ate a cup of them more than twice a week saw a 68% jump in cardiometabolic syndrome. It didn't matter what else they ate. Some South Koreans are a little steamed—and defensive—about the study's findings. After all, South Koreans eat more ramen than anyone else; the sodium-rich 80-cent cup is found everywhere there, from comic book stores to libraries and train stations. One man tells the AP, while guzzling ramen: "There's no way any study is going to stop me from eating this." Love for the instant noodle spans generations—it reminds the elderly of post-Korean War recovery and for the young and busy, it's quick and cheap. For others, "the smell and taste create an instant sense of home," says one Seoul resident. (Here's how ramen got its start)