January 19th is celebrated as the National popcorn day in the US.
In this post & video I am going to answer 5 frequently asked questions on popcorn.
1. What type of corn is popcorn?
Popcorn is a special type of flint corn. A specific strain of corn called as Zea mays everta is the most common variety used for popcorn.
About me
Prashanth Cheruku
Hello!!! Thanks for stopping by.
I am the founder of this platform & a qualified Food Technologist. I have more than 10 years of Research & content creation experience in the field of Food Science.
I hold a Master of Technology degree in Food Process Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur.
2. What is the popping mechanism of the popcorn?
Corn used for popping contains a hard shell with 14-20% moisture along with the starchy endosperm. When the kernel is heated the moisture inside gets heated and turns into steam. The steam pressure continues to build up until it reaches the breaking point of the hull. Then the steam ruptures the hull and escapes while expanding the kernel. Then the popcorn cools down.
3. Is popcorn healthy?
Popcorn can be healthy or totally unhealthy depending on how it is made.
Air popped and unsalted popcorn contains 78% carbohydrate out of which 15% is dietary fibre. (1)
Popcorn is also a wholegrain and the consumption of wholegrain is beneficial to our health.
It contains 12% protein which is a moderately good amount. Popcorn is also a good source of riboflavin, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus and zinc. But, if oil or butter is used along with salt and other toppings it can quickly turn into an unhealthy snack.
In a research study done by the University of Scranton it was found that even the commercially found popcorn samples contained a good amount of bio-accessible polyphenols. Polyphenols are antioxidants that can fight the damage caused by free radicals. (2)
100 grams of air popped unsalted popcorn contains 15g. of dietary fibre. The recommended daily intake of fibre is 21-26 g for women, 30-38g. for men, and 19-25 g for children depending on their age. (3)
Majority of the people in the US and across the world do not consume enough fibre. Popcorn can definitely help in this regard.
On the other hand commercially available popcorn especially at theatres may have a totally different nutrition profile.
A nonprofit organisation named Centre for Science in the Public Interest performed laboratory analyses of the popcorn and soda combo at three major theatre chains in the US. (4)
Subscribe to our newsletter!
The results were shocking. The biggest theatre chain’s medium popcorn contained a whopping 1200 calories and 60 g of saturated fat.
The other two theatre chains’ popcorn products contained about 590-760 calories. The sodium amount of these products was also quite high.
One more shocking news is that the calories count on the labels was understated. The article is linked below in the Youtube notes section. Please go through it.
As I mentioned earlier depending on how the popcorn is made it can be healthy or totally unhealthy. This example proves that point.
If you want popcorn to be healthy try to make it by yourself with little oil/butter and salt. In case you are buying outside please take a closer look at the ingredients and nutritional information.
In the future I will review some of the commercially available popcorn products in the global market. Stay tuned to our youtube channel & ReseaschYourFood.com website.
4. Does popcorn cause belly fat?
As I mentioned earlier depending on how popcorn is made it can have a totally different effect on our health.
Air-popped, unsalted popcorn can help us fight against weight gain and belly fat because of it fibre content, protein and good amount of various vitamins & minerals.
Whereas, when popcorn is made with oils like coconut or butter with a high amount of sodium and toppings along with added sugars can in fact promote belly fat. Research studies report that excess sodium can significantly promote overall weight gain and belly fat along with it. (5, 6, 7)
The combination of fat, salt and sodium can be quite addictive and a deadly combination. Salt consumption can make us thirsty. This thirst can promote us to drink sugary drinks especially when we are outside. You might have observed that most of the salty snacks like popcorn, french fries, burgers, potato wedges , etc., are offered in combo packages with sugary soft drinks.
Then what’s the solution to this problem Should we stop eating popcorn at malls/theatres because it is unhealthy? May not be always. But, try to choose the ones with less calories and sodium if you have a choice. If not at least try to choose a small/medium size popcorn bucket and buy a water bottle instead of a soft drink to quench your thirst later.
5. Is popcorn fat free?
No, it’s not.
Air-popped popcorn has around 4% fat. (1)
Oil-popped popcorn can contain a varying level of fat ranging from about 7% to even 33% or may be even higher. (8, 9)
Subscribe to our newsletter!
Leave a Reply