Instant noodles in a cup are cheap and convenient for consumers -- but why do burn doctors hate them?

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One simple reason: They are sending kids to emergency rooms.

That's according to a story on NPR. The problem is that after the boiling water is poured-in to cook the noodles, the lightweight Styrofoam cups are top heavy and tip over, leaving behind burns.

“There can be as many as five a week between our in-patients and out-patient setting,” says Dr. Elaine Lamb of the Children's National Hospital

The burns are typically on their chest, their abdomen and upper extremities. Sometimes children even need skin grafts.

Click here to read a 2007 study.

One out of every five children ends up needing surgery because the noodles burn hotter than the boiling liquid, leading to deeper, more severe burns.

Among pediatric burn victims, 27 percent coming into the hospital were burned by hot soup. Grease burns bring in 26 percent while hot water 25 percent and hot tea or coffee is 22 percent.