The top pops

Nutrition Action Healthletter, March, 2003 by Jayne Hurley, Bonnie Liebman

Popcorn's reputation has had a rough ride in recent years. Its image as a healthy, low-calorie, high-fiber snack shattered in 1994, when we revealed that most movie theaters pop their corn in heavily saturated coconut oil.

Suddenly, the healthy snack packed 400 calories and a day's worth of saturated fat. And that was only if you got a small with no butter (see "Movie Madness," p. 14). A large with butter meant 1,600 calories and nearly four days' worth of sat fat. Even fettuccine Alfredo comes with just a two-day supply.

Fortunately, the popcorn you buy in the supermarket hasn't been anywhere near a coconut. Most companies pop in soybean oil (even if the label says "made with real butter"). And freshly microwaved popcorn has fewer calories because it has more air and less oil than the stuff you pay too much for at the movies. But finding a healthy supermarket popcorn is no slam-dunk.

Many companies use partially hydrogenated oils that supply too much (hidden) trans fat; others use too much salt. And, when you're looking at a "light" or "94% fat free" microwave popcorn package, it's next to impossible to figure out how much sat fat you're eating. That's because most labels list (often in a tiny footnote) sodium, sat fat, etc., for one cup popped. But the amount of sat fat in a single cup of popcorn is often less than half a gram, which manufacturers can round down and list as "0" grams on the label. So when you multiply those "0" grams of sat fat by four, five, or more (depending on how many cups you eat), you--but not your arteries--still get zero.

That's where our popcorn guide comes in handy.

How Many Cups?

Our Best Bites have no more than one gram of saturated fat, 200 milligrams of sodium, and four grams (one teaspoon) of sugar per serving. (Honorable Mentions have the same sat fat and sugar limits, but can have up to 300 mg of sodium.) The trick is that our servings don't always match what you'll see listed on the packages' Nutrition Facts labels.

The servings on microwave popcorn boxes are anywhere from three to eight cups. We used a five-cup serving because that's about what Orville Redenbacher's puts in its single serve "mini bags." Sounds like a lot? It's roughly a "kid'-size bag at a movie theater.

For the already-popped corn you buy in bags, we stuck with a three-cup serving, which is close to what most labels say. It makes sense to use a smaller serving for bagged popcorn because it's more compact than the hot popcorn you pour out of a fleshly microwaved bag.

We used an even smaller serving (one cup) for pre-popped caramel, kettle, and candy-coated popcorn. All that sugar and, in some cases, fat and nuts should slow down the average snacker. If you eat more than our serving sizes and don't multiply the sodium, calories, and other numbers, we won't tell ... but your bathroom scale may.

STEP 1. Look for "94% fat-free" or "light." You can quickly narrow down your search for a good microwave popcorn by starting out with brands that are labeled "light" (which means they have half as much fat or a third fewer calories than their "regular" versions), "94% fat-free," or "low-fat." That's the only way to help keep a five-cup serving from pushing the sat fat above one gram.

If a one-gram limit seems harsh, remember that most companies use partially hydrogenated oil. So that one gram may underestimate the artery-clogging (saturated-plus-trans fat) total. But if the popcorn has only one gram of saturated fat, odds are it doesn't have more than a gram of trans. That's manageable.

In contrast, five cups of a full-fat popcorn have three to five grams of sat fat, and the partially hydrogenated oil could add a few grams of trans. Newman's Own Organics Butter Pop's Corn has six grams of sat fat, thanks to its palm oil. That's not exactly movie-theater-popcorn-bad, but why waste almost a third of a day's damaging fat on a food that tastes great with far less?

Partially hydrogenated oil is less of a problem in already-popped brands. But cheese is. Three cups of Cheez-It White Cheddar, for example, have four grams of sat fat (and 270 calories). What to do? Look for "Lite" on the bag. That should keep the sat fat to one gram or less.

But don't look for "Air Popped." Brands like Cape Cod make that appealing claim, but most have no less fat than any other full-fat popcorn. Apparently, the corn is air popped before being coated with oil and cheese.

STEP 2. Look for less sodium. Once you've got a lower-fat brand, check the sodium. Luckily, only a few lower-fat popcorns have too much for a Best Bite or Honorable Mention. That's because popcorn tastes just fine unsalted or lightly salted.

A few examples: For a rich movie-theater-like buttery taste, give Jolly Time Butter-Licious Light or Orville Redenbacher's Light Movie Theater Butter a try. If you like your seasoning a bit more subtle, pick up some Jolly Time Healthy Pop, Orville Redenbacher's Smart Pop, or Pop-Secret 94% Fat Free or Light. And if you like the taste of plain, unadorned air-popped corn, try Bearitos or Healthy Choice ... or save some money and get yourself a cheap air popper.