The buttery flavor in microwave popcorn typically
comes from a chemical actually found in butter. This chemical, is
called
diacetyl.
Diacetyl gives natural
butter its
characteristic taste. Because of this, manufacturers of
margarines or
similar oil-based
products typically add diacetyl (along with beta
carotene for
the yellow color) to make the final product more butter-flavored, because
it would otherwise be relatively tasteless.
Diacetyl
is so toxic that it commonly is strongly associated with the
destruction of the lungs of workers in microwave popcorn factories,
afflicting them with the crippling and irreversible disease known as
bronchiolitis obliterans.
Bronchiolitis obliterans is so rare outside of this context that it
has become more commonly known as "popcorn lung," after the primary
cause of the disease.
Regulators and health professionals have known of
this risk for decades, but always assumed that it would only affect
people breathing in especially high concentrations in factory
settings. Then I heard that in 2007, a man who regularly ate two bags of
microwave popcorn every day was diagnosed with popcorn lung,
indicating that
diacetyl
enters the air and lungs when microwave popcorn is cooked. Anxious
to reassure consumers, most microwave popcorn companies phased out
diacetyl -- only to replace it with chemicals that may well have
similar effects.
You
can still find
diacetyl
in many flavored snack foods and even in some so-called "natural"
foods. Make sure you
read the ingredients
of
any food you intend to consume, and make sure it contains no
diacetyl (and no "yeast extract" for that matter, either).
What's the moral
here? Air pop or oil pop. Add fresh lemonade
to help digestion and antioxidadation as well.
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