Popcorn
In my opinion, popcorn came with the advent of cinema. I do not think that there may be a closer interdependence than between popcorn and movies. Popcorn is your favorite snack when watching an interesting movie or your favorite team playing.
However, beyond that is a customary snack, popcorn seems to present quite impressive nutritional values. Now, the question is whether popcorn is indeed a dietary product. Let’s see the pros and cons.
Popcorn – pros:
It may be unbelievable but popcorn has nutritional properties. Speaking only of plain popcorn, we notice that is a low-calories snack, containing only 108 calories for a 3 ¼-cup serving.
It is absolutely, impressive. In addition, because popcorn is in fact a whole grain, a similar quantity of popcorn provides 4 grams of protein and fibers. Not to mention that popcorn is an important source of magnesium. It is well known, the importance of this element in the vascular system health and of course, in regulating your blood pressure.
Moreover, recent research has highlighted the benefits of popcorn in improving the appearance of “diverticulosis“. Diverticulosis is a condition, commonly a problem for the elderly and is manifested as small out-pouches in their bowels. Popcorn is rich in fiber, and therefore the consumption of this delicious snack, reduce the risk of a flare-up.
In addition, when comparing popcorn with other snacks such as crackers, rice crisps, pretzels or chips, we can see that popcorn is an incomparably a more healthy food without sugar, salt, refined flour or trans fat.
Popcorn – cons:
Compared with other snacks, popcorn is far from their high nutritional values. Plain popcorn contains only low amounts of vitamin B and iron. It cannot compare as nutritional values with other snacks such as seed or nuts.
On the other hand, these snacks, seeds and nuts have a high calories content.
The dark side of popcorn
All above findings are based on research done on plain popcorn that is completely different and “innocent” compared to stuff that you buy at the cinema, such as sweetened kettle corn.
According to many dieticians and nutritionists, “movie popcorn” is a threat to your waistline and your health. Think about that only one medium-size bag of popcorn contains almost 800 calories, not to mention the buttery toppings, also 250 calories. It is a tremendous amount of calories for a snack.
But beyond the high caloric amount, microwave popcorn presents a great health hazard. It contains a dangerous chemical, called “diacetyl” used to give buttery flavor. It was found that this chemical is responsible for many lung diseases.
