A couple of months ago we bought one of those Whirly Pop poppers. Boy, it is fast. Two minutes, tops. Cheap, too. Along with a supply of assorted "gourmet" popcorns, my wife and I have really been eating a lot of popcorn lately (real butter only!).
Posted on 08/12/2012 10:52:33 AM PDT by grundle
EW YORK (CBS NEWS) - An ingredient used in artificial butter flavoring for popcorn may worsen the effects of an abnormal brain protein that’s been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
A new study in Chemical Research in Toxicology examined diacetyl (DA), an ingredient used to produce the buttery flavor and smell in microwave popcorn, margarine, candy, baked goods and even pet food. It is also created naturally in fermented drinks like beer, and gives some chardonnay wines its buttery taste, according to the study.
Scientists at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis conducted an analysis of DA, a chemical which previously has been linked to respiratory problems in employees at microwave popcorn and food-flavoring factories. They found that DA has a structure that’s similar to a substance that makes beta-amyloid proteins. Too much amyloid that clumps together to form plaques are a tell-tale marker of Alzheimer’s disease in the brain. The researchers wanted to see whether DA would clump those proteins in a similar fashion to form plaques.
They found DA did lead to an increase in levels of beta-amyloid clumping, leading to toxic effects on nerve cells the scientists grew in a laboratory.
The real bad news isn’t that fake, movie-theater buttered popcorn taken in large quantities is bad for your health. I think most of us already guessed that.
The bad news is that this substance may be found in beer. Or maybe not?
You don’t suppose that is the stuff in “butter substitutes”, like Butter Buds, I can’t believe it’s not butter, fake butter spreads, etc.
If so, lots of people are in big trouble.
Our family has gone back to the “old-fashioned way” of making popcorn. I learned it from my mom! A bit of Crisco in the bottom of a big, long handled pot with a tight fitting lid, just enough popcorn to cover 1/2” and shake on the burner. The pot is warm enough to melt the butter afterward. Dumped in a paper bag with a bit of salt, it’s the only way to make it! :)
Well, since the end of the seventies when the movies turned awful I stopped going.
I have had precious little buttered popcorn. I don’t drink beer, and I only use butter, real butter.
Common sense hath kept me healthy.
They can pry my Pop Secret Movie Theater Buttered popcorn from my cold, dead hands (and I guess that’s what’ll happen, LOL!).
That’s how my family did it when I was a kid. Now I like to use an air popper. I still have to put melted butter on it.
What is that chardonnay that's been described as being so buttery you could dip your lobster in it? Time to sell that stock!
I read last week that it was also used in beer. Or was that the week before. I can’t remember.
Acute airway effects of diacetyl in mice.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19852554
Larsen ST, Alarie Y, Hammer M, Nielsen GD.
Source
National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark. stl@nrcwe.dk
Abstract
Occupational exposures to the butter flavouring agent diacetyl (2,3-butanedione) have caused lung inflammation and severe airflow limitation due to bronchiolitis obliterans.
Diacetyl is naturally present in butter, beer, white wine, etc., and its pleasant odour is easily recognized by consumers. However, this pleasant odour may induce a false sense of safety when higher airborne concentrations are encountered in industrial use. In this study, the acute warning properties, in terms of sensory irritation, that could be useful to prevent workers from exposures to a high concentration were first investigated in a mouse bioassay. Then at higher exposure concentrations, the possibility of airflow limitation and pulmonary irritation were studied with the same mouse bioassay. Diacetyl induces concentration-dependent irritation in all parts of the respiratory tract during a 2-h exposure period. The no-observed-effect levels for each effect in the mice were above 100 ppm and initiation of sensory irritation in humans was estimated to occur above 20 ppm. No acute warning signal from the airways is expected at diacetyl levels that have caused bronchiolitis obliterans and other toxic effects. The sensory irritation effect, which occurred rapidly upon initiation of exposure, faded rapidly. Furthermore, high-level diacetyl exposures decreased the sensory irritation warning signal in mice upon repeated exposure, which suggests that the compound is especially insidious.
A couple of months ago we bought one of those Whirly Pop poppers. Boy, it is fast. Two minutes, tops. Cheap, too. Along with a supply of assorted "gourmet" popcorns, my wife and I have really been eating a lot of popcorn lately (real butter only!).
I was gonna say something.....but I forget.
Olive oil is really good on dry-popped. Add salt if you like.
Our family reverted to old-fashioned popcorn about a year ago. A lot cheaper, and unquestionably better tasting. Only problem: The 13 year-old got sidetracked and the oil ignited one day, before she put the kernals in. Good thing I was home to help her deal with it.
No, not the only way to make it. Goes a lot better if you dump into a clean dish pan. Tons and tons of it.
No matter. Bloomberg will ban them all, just to be safe.
Meantime; in about five years; they will find that children who ate this 'oil' appear immune to skin cancer - or some such.
Personally; avoid the buttery. (Choice is good; no?) Love 'movie' popcorn; but when at home; pop my own (not microwave); and pop in coconut oil - banned from theaters; years ago - of course - per the wisdom of the food nazis. Yes; they took out the 'healthier alternative' and replaced it with some damning oil or combo; on behalf of the health of theater goers.
(Maybe; if they put the coconut oil back; it will offset the negatives of the faux butter; now served.) Might be an easy /win/win. . ./sarc off/almost. . .
I use Alton Brown’s method, which is quite similar. Make it directly in a stainless steel mixing bowl with AL foil covering the top, with a few holes punched in it. Agitate it over a burner, stop when the popping is done. Salt and butter (if desired), eat right out of the bowl after it cools just a bit.
LOL. . .
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