As a die-hard popcorn fan, this story hit me where it hurt. My saving grace is that I haven’t owned a microwave for several years and weaned myself long ago off the addiction to microwave popcorn. I realize I’m in the minority every time I smell the somewhat nauseating, yet strangely appealing smell of “butter”-oozed corn popping in the microwave. Anyway, Dr. Ben Kim posted this an account of toxification from microwave popcorn on his site. Here is an excerpt:

Last week, the New York Times ran a story about a 53-year old Colorado man whose penchant for microwave buttered popcorn may have caused him to develop a serious lung condition called bronchiolitis obliterans, or “popcorn workers’ lung.”

Initially diagnosed with generalized lung inflammation, the Colorado man’s doctor eventually discovered that he ate at least two bags of microwave buttered popcorn per day for more than a decade. He often made it a point to inhale the butter-flavored steam that came out of the bags when he first opened them.

He was repeatedly inhaling significant doses of heated diacetyl, a vapor that, if inhaled over a long period of time, can cause the small airways in the lungs to become swollen and scarred. Eventually, the scarring of airways can create a situation where it is possible to inhale deeply, but very difficult to exhale without discomfort.

Diacetyl is used to add a buttery flavor to many brands of microwave popcorn, including Orville Redenbacher and Act II. Chronic exposure to heated diacetyl in food production and flavoring plants that utilize synthetic butter has been linked with hundreds of cases of lung damage.

A representative of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has stated that the agency is considering the Colorado man’s case in its review of the safety of diacetyl.

A spokesperson for ConAgra Foods, the United States’ largest producer of microwave popcorn, has said that ConAgra plans to remove diacetyl from its microwave popcorn products “in the near future.”

A spokesperson for Pop Weaver, another large maker of microwave popcorn, has publicly stated that Pop Weaver has already stopped using diacetyl in its bags of popcorn “because of consumer concerns.”

Clearly, it makes sense to avoid eating microwave buttered popcorn and spending time in areas that produce it.

There is a great, delicious and healthy recipe for an alternative to microwave buttered popcorn on Dr. Kim’s site.

Source


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