It is only natural that the profit-seeking student sees a 12-pack of Maruchan Ramen at Giant Eagle for $1.50 and — after doing some basic arithmetic — says, “Wow! Thirteen cents per package! With the money I will save on lunch, I can finally afford to impress Julio/Julia and cook for him/her, and invite 46 of our closest friends. (Thanks, Facebook!)”

While pondering the prospects over a bowl of ramen, the left arm of our protagonist feels a shooting pain, and soon the next great microeconomist is collapsed on the floor from a heart attack. Fortunately he is able to be revived, but after recuperation at home and many more ramen lunches later, he eventually seizes up and loses consciousness, ultimately suffering a stroke and dying... all over trying to save a couple of bucks.

While ramen is by far one of the most inexpensive foods on the market, it just might be the most hazardous to your health. A package consisting of a dried noodle block and a packet of seasoning (technically two whole servings) typically contains about 1800 milligrams of sodium, which is over 90 percent of the recommended daily intake. The seasoning carries most of the blame for that, but the benign-looking noodles are no innocent party. The noodles are deep-fried at a factory, then formed into little bricks and dried. Besides being devoid of any significant amount of vitamins or minerals, the high salt content of the seasoning combined with the saturated fat in the noodles is a significant contributor to weight gain, heart disease, and stroke.

So what makes instant ramen bad? It’s the manufacturing process. In order to create a dessicated, long-keeping noodle that cooks very fast, it’s deep-fried in oil. There are air-dried instant ramen varieties out there, but they take a bit longer to cook (though it’s only about 5 minutes), and more importantly are not the real cheap kind.

To make things worse, the instant soup mix has more fat in it, not to mention a lot of salt and mystery ingredients. Take a look at the nutritional information for Maruchan instant beef noodles for example, noting that they suggest a serving size of half a pack. When is the last time you ate just 1/2 a pack of instant ramen? A full pack, which is what most people have, is 380 calories, 126 of which are from fat, and most of the rest from white flour. Cup noodles are even worse. The rather healthy sounding Nissin Chicken Flavor with Vegetable Medley have in a real serving (I mean come on, 1/2 a cup of cup noodles?) 536 calories, which come almost exclusively from fat, white flour, and sugar. And really, how satisfying is a cup noodle?

That’s not to say that instant ramen has to be avoided at all costs. I like it myself sometimes. But it really should be delegated to the same category as potato chips and Twinkies, and never be used as the main carb component of a main meal.