Microwave Popcorn: Good or Bad?

It is said that the average American eats about 60 quarts of popcorn per year. And while some people might still use those hot air poppers and butter-flavored flakes; and others might search for those aluminum Jiffy-Pop things you cook over the stove top, for most of us that means our 60 quarts of popcorn was made in the microwave.

And since I probably eat more microwave popcorn than the average American, I was extremely disappointed to read recent headlines about cancer-causing chemicals in microwave popcorn. There is even something called "popcorn workers lung" said to be caused by these carcinogens.

Here's the good and bad of what I found out. And if you are in a hurry to know what a serious problem it is, I just finished a bag of microwave popcorn...and not one of those little snack bags either.

Well, popcorn can be a nice healthy snack. Popcorn by itself is a practically fat-free food. But you aren't going to find a bag of microwave popcorn with plain old kernels in it. A bag of regular microwave popcorn with butter flavor is going to have about 24 grams of fat and 500-600 mg of sodium. A bag is two servings, but really, we know you just eat the whole bag.

So popcorn might not even be that good for your diet. I know it's hard to watch a movie without the greasy, salty, crunchy snack, but you might want to at least reading the labels and looking for low-fat, lower-fat, and practically fat-free versions. Orville Redenbacher has some low fat microwave popcorn options that taste just as good as the fat-laden ones.

Or you can pop your own. Heat vegetable oil in a skillet, toss in some popcorn, put on a lid, and let it pop. Gently move the skillet as the kernels pop, to avoid any kernels sticking and burning. Add your own melted butter, salt, or other flavorings. That's how we made popcorn when I grew up before microwaves and microwave popcorn.

But fat and sodium aren't the only bad news about microwave popcorn. Microwave popcorn bags are made of paper, but the inside of the bags are coated with a substance to keep the paper bag from disintegrating from grease and heat. When heated, this substance breaks down into something called PFOA.