How healthy is ramen?

There’s no question that a package of ramen for lunch is fast, easy and dirt cheap.  At about 18-20 cents a package there are few meals that can fill you up for less money.  But how “good” is it for your body?  I fix a package of ramen occasionally for a quick mid-afternoon snack and have been under the same belief that I think many people have, that other than a dangerously high level of sodium, the rest of the ingredients have to be pretty neutral.  Right?


Well, not really.  I did some snooping today and discovered that the amount of sodium per serving is nowhere near what I thought it would be.  At 760-910g per serving (depending on the soup flavor) it is within reasonable levels for most people.  Compare that to a Whopper® sandwich at 1460mg of sodium.  What surprised me though is a serving of ramen has quite a bit more fat than I would have thought.

WHICH IS HEALTHIER:  A SERVING OF RAMEN OR A SERVING OF BUTTER?

Okay, a spoonful of butter isn’t going to make a very satisfying lunch, but let’s say you’re spreading it on a bagel.  Not counting the bagel, the butter alone is not that much more “unhealthy” than a serving of ramen, that is until you come to the sodium part.  Then the difference is pretty immense.  Here’s a comparison between the two.  I threw in a Whopper® in case you are feeling too lazy to make some ramen and decide to have it your way.

	Butter	Ramen	Whopper®
Calories	102	190	1160
Total fat	12g	7g	50g
Saturated fat	7g	3.5g	12.5g
Trans fat	0.5g	0g	1g
Cholesterol	31mg	0g	65g
Sodium	2 mg	760-910mg	1460mg
Carbs	0g	26g	157g

QUOTE FOR THE DAY:

"The excess of our youth are checks written against our age and they are payable years later"

-Charles Caleb Colton

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