Brittany Thompson’s stomach rumbled through her shift Thursday morning while working in the computer lab at Middleton Library. She made the walk upstairs to the break room. A quick 20 cents and three minutes later, and she was in ramen noodle heaven.Thompson, disaster sciences and management junior, is part of a time-honored college tradition that has been in practice for half a century—the ramen noodle. The grandfather of instant food turned 50 this year. The world’s first instant noodle product, Chicken Ramen, was invented in Japan in 1958 by Momofuku Ando, the founder of Nissin Foods, according to Nissin’s Web site. Nissin introduced the Cup Noodle—instant noodles in a waterproof foam container—in 1971. College students looking for a cheap, convenient snack have found comfort in the salty noodle soup ever since.The low costs, usually less than 25 cents, ease and time of cooking and the long shelf life make ramen appealing to many students.Thompson said she likes to make “real ramen” by adding seaweed, ham and eggs. Sometimes she also puts it on ice to make iced ramen.Ramen is a Japanese noodle dish that originated in China, according to ramenlicious.com, a Web site that lists hundreds of ramen recipes.Among the unique recipes listed on the Web site are Doritos Ramen Salad, Jello Ramen and Ramen Noodle Pudding.Approximately 85 billion servings of instant noodles are eaten worldwide each year, according to the site.Despite the popularity of ramen, it is not very healthy.Judy Myhand, human ecology instructor, warns that ramen noodles are not a healthy snack.Myhand said the main concerns are the high sodium and saturated fats and the low nutrient density. Nutrient density means the amount of nutrients per calorie. Ramen noodles have a low nutrient density, meaning they are high in calories but low in nutrients.One package of beef flavor ramen noodles contains 1702 milligrams of sodium, 71 percent of the daily allotment. One package of Maruchan Chicken flavor cup noodles contains 1180 milligrams of sodium, 49 percent of the daily allotment.High amounts of sodium are dangerous because many people are sodium sensitive, especially those with high blood pressure, Mayhand said.The other main concern is saturated fat. One package of beef flavor ramen noodles contains 7 grams of saturated fat, 34 percent of the daily allotment. One package of Maruchan Chicken flavor cup noodles contains 6 grams of saturated fat, 30 percent of the daily allotment.Myhand said high amounts of saturated fats can lead to an increase in low-density lipoprotein. LDL, also known as bad cholesterol, plays a major role in the accumulation of plaque in the arteries and high levels can lead to heart disease.She said many students don’t realize each package of block ramen noodles contains two servings. The nutrition facts represent only one serving, so the numbers have to be doubled if the entire packet is consumed.”I am too worried about the health aspects because I work out a lot,” Thompson said. “I don’t eat them everyday because they are bad for you, especially the instant kind.” Healthy alternatives to instant noodles are fresh and dried fruit, nuts, peanut butter and crackers, microwaveable vegetable packages, baby carrots and celery sticks, Myhand said.Myhand said she has noticed students eat little if any fruits and vegetables. Students have little nutritional information so they tend to make narrow food choices, eating the same foods over and over again.”Students tend to be willing to spend more time and focus on exercising than they do on developing a good food plan,” Myhand said. “They don’t think it through.”
 
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Contact Jack LeBlanc at [email protected]