WHAT’S IN THE BAG?

By Jeanne La Natra

Popped corn is a great healthy snack: low in calories and high in fiber but the microwavable popcorn bags, though convenient, are not healthy. There are two major reasons you should avoid microwave popcorn: they contain trans fat and the manufacturer uses a non-stick coating inside the bag that has shown in some research to cause respiratory illness in microwave factory workers and is associated with an increased risk of certain cancers.

Even though the nutrition label may boast “No trans fat”! This isn’t entirely true as some trans fat is allowed in very small amounts as long as it meets the guidelines. Trans fat is produced by adding hydrogen to vegetable oil, which converts the liquid into a solid form at room temperature. This process is called hydrogenation. Eating trans fat is similar to eating saturated fat which raises the level of LDL(bad) cholesterol in the blood. An elevated LDL cholesterol level in the blood increases your risk of developing heart disease, the leading cause of death in men and women in the US. When reading nutrition labels, look for “buzz” words such as partially hydrogenated and shortening which is synonymous for trans fat and avoid buying/consuming products containing these ingredients.

The second reason for avoiding cooking/eating microwave popcorn is that the bags themselves, contain a non stick coating on the inside of the bag that decomposes, when heated, producing a compound called perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA or C8). This chemical has been associated with increased risk of certain cancers including liver and prostate. An article in the Journal of Occupational Medicine(1993) said that factory workers (in microwave popcorn factories) exposed to this chemical had increased cancer mortality.

The EPA has been investigating PFOA because:

• It is very persistent in the environment
• It is found at very low levels both in the environment and in the blood of the general US population
• Remains in people for a very long time
• Causes developmental and other adverse effects in laboratory animals

But the good news is that you can still enjoy the health benefits of popcorn by making it at home and controlling whether or not you use oil and how you season it. There are three ways you can pop your own corn and not use any oil at all. The first is using an air popper. The second is popping it on the stove top by using a medium-to-large pot with a lid. You put 1/3 cup of kernels in the pot (with the lid on) and cook over a medium-high heat and continually shake till popping becomes infrequent. The third is to create a home-made microwave popcorn bag. Put ¼ cup of kernels in a paper lunch bag and seal the top by folding it over a couple of times. Cook the popcorn in the microwave as you would a manufactured microwave popcorn bag(2-3 minutes on high till popping slows and stops.) Then enjoy your healthy snack without trans fat and chemicals.

http://www.epa.gov/oppt/pfoa/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8229349

http://www.fda.gov/food/populartopics/ucm292278.htm

Jeanne La Natra is a Student Intern from Suffolk County Community College/Volunteer with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County’s Family Health and Wellness Program