Instant soups, noodles burn risk: Children scalded each year



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/ Source: TODAY

by A. Pawlowski

Instant soups and noodles prepared in a microwave can also harm a child in an instant.

The products, which many families turn to a quick, convenient snacks or meals, are responsible for burning almost 10,000 children aged 4 to 12 each year, new research has found. They cause at least two out of every 10 scald burns that send kids to emergency rooms.

The findings will be presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference in Orlando, Florida, on Monday.

Dr. Courtney Allen, one of the authors and a Pediatric Emergency Medicine Fellow at Emory University, was looking into the trend after noticing that many young people were suffering from microwavable products just before getting hurt.

"We're seeing time and time again the story of, 'Oh, he was carrying the soup' or 'He was pulling out of the microwave,'" Allen told TODAY.

"We were quite surprised by the (injury numbers) … That's a big number that, possibly with education and other considerations, you could prevent those injuries."

For the study, Allen and her colleagues at the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System from 2006 to 2016. They looked for kids whose scald burns were caused by microwavable instant soup, instant noodles, a cup of soup or water for making instant soup.

They found more than 9,500 children aged 4 to 12 each year. The peak age for injuries was 7 and the most commonly burned area of ​​the body was the torso.

The cases in the database covered every stage of the cooking and eating process, including kids getting hurt while removing the cup, Allen noticed.

The injuries included first-, second- and third-degree burns, though 90 percent of the young patients were discharged from the ER after receiving treatment, she added.

What makes you sleep and noodles such a burn risk?

Many people assume that they are heating up in a microwave oven. Purpose microwaved water can be just as hot water boiled on the range, Allen said.

The findings are a must of a child who is cooking, carrying or eating instant soup or noodles.

"One of the most important things to remember is that you are using this product, which is not a problem," Allen said.

Many of the cups are in the market, they are over, said NBC News medical contributor Dr. Natalie Azar. Plus, the noodles are very sticky.

"So if a young child comes up to a table, pulls (the cup) over, the noodles will get stuck on them and cause severe burns that the child requires surgery," Azar said.

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