Overview
This provisional ingredient page records source-specific measurements for ramen soup. Its population contamination profile has not been synthesized. See Ingredients for the ingredient inventory.
Heavy metal contamination profile
| Analyte | Coverage | Typical (ppb) | Confidence | Key sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| lead (Pb) | pending | — | — | — |
| cadmium (Cd) | pending | — | — | — |
| inorganic arsenic (iAs) | pending | — | — | — |
| total arsenic (tAs) | pending | — | — | — |
| total mercury (tHg) | pending | — | — | — |
| nickel (Ni) | pending | — | — | — |
| aluminum (Al) | pending | — | — | — |
| chromium (Cr) | pending | — | — | — |
| tin (Sn) | pending | — | — | — |
| uranium (U) | pending | — | — | — |
The profile fields remain pending until an evidence synthesis supports a population estimate. Source observations are listed separately below.
Reported measurements
The population contamination profile on this page is unchanged. These notes do not set a typical value, an upper-tail value, or a certification limit.
Instant noodles, not prepared soup
Every figure below is an instant noodle measurement. None is prepared ramen soup.
Katyal and colleagues ground dry noodles together with the dry seasoning. Lead was 0.003 to 0.250 mg/kg and cadmium 0.009 to 0.149 mg/kg (30 packets). Arsenic in that study is chart-only, so no arsenic number is copied. Analysis of lead, arsenic, and cadmium concentrations in instant noodles within the Canadian market
Awofolu and Kakoma report dry weight. Period means for arsenic are 1.7, 1.4, 0.8, and 1.5 mg/kg. Table 6 prints an arsenic overall mean of 3.0 mg/kg, and the abstract prints 1.4 mg/kg. Both are printed. Parentheses in the brand tables are relative standard deviation. No recovery is printed. Contamination and health risk assessment of instant noodles by heavy metals from commercial outlets in Windhoek, Namibia
Elziani and colleagues report Table 1 in ppb. Sample 2 lead is 47.48 ppb. The discussion says samples 2 and 4 exceeded 40 ppb, while the table shows only sample 2 above 25 ppb. The table controls. Assessment of Heavy Metal Concentrations in Instant Noodles from Local Markets in Benghazi, Libya
Bui and colleagues dried noodles at 60 C. Mercury brand means are 0.015 to 0.025 µg/kg even though the table title says mg/kg. Cadmium brand means are 0.020 to 0.023 mg/kg, lead 0.172 to 0.193 mg/kg, total chromium 0.208 to 1.355 mg/kg, and nickel 0.162 to 0.573 mg/kg. n = 80. Chemometric Fingerprinting of Vietnamese Instant Noodle Brands via ICP-MS and Principal Component Analysis
Nasser reports uncooked noodles as sold. Basis is not stated. Lead was 0.121 ppm to 1.143 ppm. Aluminium was 1.284 ppm to 11.250 ppm. The cadmium sentence prints “0.043ppm. to o.o76 ppm”, quoted as printed. Mycobiota, Mycotoxins, and Heavy Metals from Instant Noodles in Saudi Arabia
Paul and colleagues excluded the seasoning sachet and dried the noodle cake. This is a preprint, not peer reviewed. The table prints mg kg-1. Lead was 0.033 ± 0.026 mg/kg (0.013 to 0.092 mg/kg). Cadmium was 0.030 ± 0.051 mg/kg (0.005 to 0.155 mg/kg). Total chromium was 0.151 ± 0.105 mg/kg. Nickel was 0.168 ± 0.060 mg/kg. n = 102 packets. Health risk assessment of carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic heavy metal exposure from commercial instant noodles in Bangladesh
| Study | Design | Metal | Finding | Units and basis | n |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Analysis of lead, arsenic, and cadmium concentrations in instant noodles within the Canadian market | Noodle plus dry seasoning | Lead | 0.003 to 0.250 mg/kg | mg/kg, dry product plus seasoning | 30 packets |
| Contamination and health risk assessment of instant noodles by heavy metals from commercial outlets in Windhoek, Namibia | Four periods, dry weight | Arsenic | period means 1.7, 1.4, 0.8, and 1.5 mg/kg; Table 6 overall mean 3.0 mg/kg; abstract overall mean 1.4 mg/kg | mg/kg, dry wt. | 48 samples |
| Assessment of Heavy Metal Concentrations in Instant Noodles from Local Markets in Benghazi, Libya | Seven market samples | Lead | sample 2 is 47.48 ppb | ppb, dried powdered noodle | 7 |
| Chemometric Fingerprinting of Vietnamese Instant Noodle Brands via ICP-MS and Principal Component Analysis | Four brands, dried at 60 C | Mercury | 0.015 to 0.025 µg/kg | µg/kg on the mercury row; table title says mg/kg | 80 |
| Mycobiota, Mycotoxins, and Heavy Metals from Instant Noodles in Saudi Arabia | Uncooked, as sold | Lead | 0.121 ppm to 1.143 ppm | ppm, basis not stated | 42 |
| Health risk assessment of carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic heavy metal exposure from commercial instant noodles in Bangladesh | Cake only, sachet excluded, preprint | Lead | 0.033 ± 0.026 mg/kg | mg/kg; table prints mg kg-1; dry cake | 102 packets |
Ramen soup and gut studies of the metals named on this page
Ramen soup is a prepared broth with noodles. The studies below match lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, aluminum, chromium, and nickel using biomarkers, drinking water, larval zebrafish, a review, hair, and hexavalent chromium salts. Broth, noodle, and seasoning are not separated in any of those models. A soup specification should keep the laboratory species.
Sitarik et al. 2020 measured tooth lead and stool microbiota at 1 month and 6 months in 146 maternal-child pairs in the Detroit-area WHEALS cohort. In utero tooth lead was associated with fungal community composition at 1 month. Lead was not associated with overall bacterial community structure. Taxon-level bacterial shifts were higher Collinsella at 1 month, higher Bilophila at 6 months, and lower Bacteroides. The direction is lead exposure toward microbiota composition. Tooth lead is a biomarker, not a concentration in this ingredient.
Eggers et al. 2023, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1193919, followed 123 children in the Mexico City PROGRESS cohort. Maternal blood lead means were 33.6 µg/L in the second trimester and 34.9 µg/L in the third. Stool metagenomes at ages 9 to 11 showed lower Bacteroides caccae with lead exposure. Weighted quantile sum regression gave a negative overall mixture effect (beta = -0.17) in both trimesters. The direction is prenatal lead toward the childhood gut microbiota. The summary does not support a lead concentration in food.
Liu et al. 2023, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.3389/fvets.2023.1219729, exposed Sprague-Dawley rats to cadmium chloride for 30 days. The note states lower intestinal ZO-1, higher TNF-alpha and IL-6 in intestine and blood, and Muribaculaceae in blood that was absent in the unexposed group. The note does not print the dose or the number of rats. The direction is cadmium toward gut and blood microbiota and barrier markers.
Zhang et al. 2015, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.5b00237, gave mice 10 mg/L cadmium in drinking water for 10 weeks. Firmicutes and gamma-proteobacteria decreased in feces after 4 weeks, and Firmicutes decreased in cecum contents after 10 weeks. The direction is cadmium toward gut microbiota, alongside hepatic energy-metabolism changes in the same animals. The summary does not name a food.
Hoen et al. 2018 related urinary total arsenic at 6 weeks to stool microbiota in 204 infants in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study. Urinary total arsenic had median 0.4 µg/L and mean 0.63 µg/L. Feeding-stratified means were 0.5 µg/L in exclusively breastfed infants, 0.9 µg/L in mixed-fed infants, and 1.2 µg/L in formula-only infants. Overall composition was marginally associated with natural-log urinary arsenic after adjustment for feeding and urine specific gravity (pseudo-F 1.85, p = 0.05). The clearest association was in formula-fed males (n = 33, pseudo-F 2.30, p = 0.008). Formula-fed females (n = 23) did not show that association. The direction is an early-life arsenic biomarker toward infant gut microbiota. Urinary arsenic is not a concentration in this ingredient.
Dahan et al. 2018, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2018.01323, exposed larval zebrafish to 10, 50, and 100 ppb arsenic in water for 20 days. Arsenic exposure explained 54.7 percent of the variance in overall bacterial composition. The class 1 integron relative copy number at the highest concentration was 9 times the control value. The note does not state whether the dissolved arsenic was inorganic or total, and it does not give the number of larvae. The direction is arsenic in water toward the larval microbiome. The model is not a human gut, and the summary does not support an arsenic concentration in food.
Giambo et al. 2021, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.3892/wasj.2021.90, screened 600 articles and included 97. For mercury, the note states that methylation and demethylation are a core process in methylmercury metabolism and that microbiota changes have been linked to neurodevelopmental effects in rat offspring. The note does not assign a new sample size to that mercury summary. The direction summarized is microbiota toward methylmercury metabolism, and exposure toward microbiota in the offspring studies. The review does not test this ingredient.
Xiong et al. 2025, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-60508-8, followed 146 mother-infant pairs, with maternal hair trace elements measured in 119 mothers. Shannon diversity of the infant gut at 3 months correlated positively with selenium and negatively with copper. Bifidobacterium relative abundance increased under high aluminum and high manganese together, so the note does not separate aluminum from manganese. The note states that high copper and arsenic may enrich antibiotic resistance genes. Hair concentrations are not printed. The direction is prenatal trace-element biomarkers toward the infant gut. Hair is not a food sample.
Mu et al. 2023 gavaged mice with potassium dichromate at 75 mg/kg for 29 days (n = 60 across three groups). Hexavalent chromium lowered Chao1 diversity from 170.75 ± 15.79 to 87.00 ± 9.55 (p = 0.00029) and Shannon diversity from 4.64 ± 0.68 to 2.64 ± 0.64 (p = 0.0055). Escherichia_Shigella rose from 10.71 percent to 57.75 percent. Seaweed polysaccharide at 200 mg/kg partly reversed the shift. The direction is hexavalent chromium toward gut microbiota. The dose is a gavage dose. It is not a total-chromium concentration in food.
Richardson et al. 2018, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.1038/s41598-018-24931-w, gavaged Sprague-Dawley rats for 5 days with sodium arsenite, cadmium chloride, sodium dichromate, cobalt chloride, or nickel chloride, 5 rats per cohort. The note does not print the milligram doses. Observed OTUs and Shannon diversity were lower for arsenic, chromium, and nickel (p < 0.05). Differential genera numbered 37 for nickel, 17 for arsenic, 5 for cadmium, and 10 for chromium. Sodium dichromate is a hexavalent chromium salt, so the chromium arm is not a total-chromium result. The direction is short oral exposure toward the rat gut microbiota.
Yang et al. 2023 compared 109 occupationally nickel-exposed workers with matched controls. Serum nickel in the exposed group was 5.70 ± 3.21 µg/L, serum uric acid was 355.95 ± 67.87 µmol/L, and uric-acid-lowering bacteria, including Lactobacillus and related taxa, were lower. The direction is occupational nickel toward gut microbiota and then toward a host metabolite. Serum nickel is not a concentration in this ingredient.
Study table
| Study | Model | Metal and dose | Main finding | Limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sitarik et al. 2020 | Human infants; tooth lead and stool; n = 146 | Lead; tooth biomarker, not a food dose | Fungal composition at 1 month shifted; overall bacterial structure did not | Not this ingredient |
| Eggers et al. 2023 | Human children, ages 9 to 11; n = 123 | Maternal blood lead; means 33.6 and 34.9 µg/L | Lower Bacteroides caccae; mixture beta = -0.17 | Per WikiBiome source summary; not this ingredient |
| Liu et al. 2023 | Rats; cadmium chloride; 30 days | Cadmium; dose not printed in the source note | Lower intestinal ZO-1; Muribaculaceae appeared in blood | Per WikiBiome source summary; n and dose unstated |
| Zhang et al. 2015 | Mice; drinking water; 10 weeks | Cadmium; 10 mg/L | Lower fecal Firmicutes and gamma-proteobacteria by 4 weeks | Per WikiBiome source summary; not this ingredient |
| Hoen et al. 2018 | Human infants at 6 weeks; n = 204 | Urinary total arsenic; mean 0.63 µg/L | Composition associated with urinary arsenic; strongest in formula-fed males (n = 33) | Biomarker study; not a lot concentration |
| Dahan et al. 2018 | Larval zebrafish; water; 20 days | Arsenic; 10, 50, and 100 ppb; species not stated | 54.7 percent of composition variance; class 1 integron 9 times controls at the high dose | Per WikiBiome source summary; not a human gut and not this ingredient |
| Giambo et al. 2021 | Review; 97 of 600 articles | Mercury; no new dose | Methylation and demethylation described as core to methylmercury metabolism; offspring microbiota changes noted | Per WikiBiome source summary; review, not this ingredient |
| Xiong et al. 2025 | Mother-infant cohort; n = 146; hair n = 119 | Hair aluminum, copper, arsenic, manganese, selenium; concentrations not printed | Infant Shannon diversity fell with copper; Bifidobacterium rose with high aluminum and manganese together | Per WikiBiome source summary; hair is not food |
| Mu et al. 2023 | Mice; 29-day gavage; n = 60 | Hexavalent chromium as potassium dichromate; 75 mg/kg | Chao1 and Shannon fell; Escherichia_Shigella rose from 10.71 percent to 57.75 percent | Gavage dose; not total chromium in food |
| Richardson et al. 2018 | Rats; 5-day gavage; 5 per cohort | Arsenite, cadmium chloride, sodium dichromate, nickel chloride; doses not printed | Nickel changed 37 genera; hexavalent chromium changed 10; diversity fell for arsenic, chromium, and nickel | Per WikiBiome source summary; chromium arm is hexavalent |
| Yang et al. 2023 | Human workers; n = 109 | Serum nickel 5.70 ± 3.21 µg/L in the exposed group | Lower uric-acid-lowering bacteria; higher serum uric acid | Occupational exposure; not this ingredient |
What remains uncertain
No study cited here fed ramen soup. Dahan and colleagues did not name the arsenic species. The mercury sentence is a review, not a broth measurement, and it does not speciate the mercury in soup. Hexavalent chromium gavage is not total chromium in broth. The aluminum finding is combined with manganese. Occupational serum nickel is not nickel leached into soup.
FDA TDS FY2018–FY2020 source observations
FDA measured the prepared foods named below. Each row describes that food and preparation, not every form of this ingredient. Values are µg/kg (ppb) on the FDA sample basis. ND means not detected; it is not a measured zero. Reporting limits can vary between composites. FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical Results
| FDA food and preparation | Analyte | Composites | Detected | Detected concentrations (ppb) | Reporting limits (ppb) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 367: Soup, ramen noodles, prepared with water | tAs | 3 | 0 | ND in all composites | 3 |
| 367: Soup, ramen noodles, prepared with water | Cd | 3 | 3 | 4.5–15 | 1 |
| 367: Soup, ramen noodles, prepared with water | Cr | 3 | 0 | ND in all composites | 50 |
| 367: Soup, ramen noodles, prepared with water | Pb | 3 | 0 | ND in all composites | 4 |
| 367: Soup, ramen noodles, prepared with water | tHg | 3 | 0 | ND in all composites | 1 |
| 367: Soup, ramen noodles, prepared with water | Ni | 3 | 0 | ND in all composites | 40 |
| 367: Soup, ramen noodles, prepared with water | U | 3 | 0 | ND in all composites | 1 |
References
Works cited in this page’s text, in first-appearance order. See Sources for this page’s source inventory. Each title links to a source record with bibliographic details, reported findings, and document provenance.
- Analysis of lead, arsenic, and cadmium concentrations in instant noodles within the Canadian marketPeer-reviewed
- Contamination and health risk assessment of instant noodles by heavy metals from commercial outlets in Windhoek, NamibiaPeer-reviewed
- Assessment of Heavy Metal Concentrations in Instant Noodles from Local Markets in Benghazi, LibyaPeer-reviewed
- Chemometric Fingerprinting of Vietnamese Instant Noodle Brands via ICP-MS and Principal Component AnalysisPeer-reviewed
- Mycobiota, Mycotoxins, and Heavy Metals from Instant Noodles in Saudi ArabiaPeer-reviewed
- Health risk assessment of carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic heavy metal exposure from commercial instant noodles in BangladeshPreprint
- Fetal and early postnatal lead exposure measured in teeth associates with infant gut microbiotaPeer-reviewed
- Prenatal lead exposure is negatively associated with the gut microbiome in childhoodPeer-reviewed
- Environmental cadmium exposure alters the internal microbiota and metabolome of Sprague-Dawley ratsPeer-reviewed
- Subchronic Exposure of Mice to Cadmium Perturbs Their Hepatic Energy Metabolism and Gut MicrobiomePeer-reviewed
- Sex-specific associations of infants’ gut microbiome with arsenic exposurePeer-reviewed
- Exposure to arsenic alters the microbiome of larval zebrafishPeer-reviewed
- Influence of toxic metal exposure on the gut microbiotaPeer-reviewed
- Prenatal exposure to trace elements impacts mother-infant gut microbiome, metabolome and resistome during the first year of lifePeer-reviewed
- Seaweed polysaccharide relieves hexavalent chromium-induced gut microbial homeostasisPeer-reviewed
- Exposure to toxic metals triggers unique responses from the rat gut microbiotaPeer-reviewed
- Nickel exposure induces gut microbiome disorder and serum uric acid elevationPeer-reviewed
- FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical ResultsDataset
Sources
Sources catalogued for this page. The last column says how each source is used here.
| # | Citation | Year | Type | Used on this page for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FDA 2022. FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical Results, FDA Total Diet Study | 2022 | Government dataset | US-FDA Pb, Cd, tAs, iAs, tHg, Ni, Cr, U, Sb occurrence in 3276 prepared food, beverage and water composites across 307 TDS foods, FY2018-FY2020 US collections (n=3276) |
Update history
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