is nothing sacred? scaremongering about Ramen noodles at TED

This video is as misleading as it is disgusting:

The basic premise is that they had someone swallow a small pill containing a tiny camera, and filmed the digestion process for instant ramen noodles, gatorade and gummy bears versus more “natural” versions of those foods. And shocker, the processed foods did not seem to digest as quickly as the non-processed versions. There’s also some chemical scaremongering about how the ingredients in Ramen are “related” to butane which is a component of gasoline.

The whole thing is clumsy and ham-handed and (of course) gross; basically, the recipe for instant viral success. But just because the noodles retain their shape longer hardly means they are not being digested; if they were really immune to acid then they’d come out in the same shape as they went in (a rather obvious point ignored by the artists here, who have clevely titled their project M2A for “mouth 2 anus”)

The top-rated comments on the video also are worth sharing as solid critiques:

62+ packets assuming the maximum allowed amount of TBHQ (0.02% per product). I’d worry more about sodium intake before then (and ramen is full of sodium, natural or otherwise, no arguing there).

Oh, then this gem– “survive Armageddon”– ramen has an official shelf life of about 6 months. It’s flash-fried and then quickly dried. This is the major preservative. TBHQ preserves the oils.
But what do I know? I don’t have a fancy degree in media art production like Ms Bardin.

This video is just misinformation and half-truths. “Artificial flavours are intellectual property”? True, but they are disclosed to the FDA (in the US). The FDA must approve all artificial colours and flavours. No ifs or buts.
TBHQ is chemically related to butane, in so much that it contains a butyl moiety. So does butter. Butter and butane share a root word– butyrum. Butter is natural. Where’s that info in this video? Plus, you’d need 62+ packets @ 80g to get 1g of TBHQ, the “sick” amount.