It's much healthier if you make your own popcorn at home.
Popcorn is one of the popular foods that is often an alternative to healthy snacks. Even so, instant popcorn has the potential to have the opposite effect.
Popcorn is staying good for health because it is rich in fiber. Apart from that, popcorn is also low in fat and calories.
Healthy home-made popcorn snacks are usually prepared without the use of many additional ingredients. To make healthy home-based savory popcorn , for example, you can treat popcorn with olive oil and a pinch of salt.
However, the same is not found in instant popcorn . Instant popcorn is popcorn seeds that are sold in packages with various flavors and can be cooked only using a microwave .
Instant popcorn in packaging is usually equipped with quite a lot of additional ingredients. Some of these ingredients may not be healthy so they can 'mask' the various healthy ingredients in popcorn.
At least three less healthful ingredients that are often found in popcorn instant or microwave popcorn . The following are the three ingredients, as reported on the Eat This page :
Popcorn :
1. Unhealthy fats
Currently, most instant popcorn brands are no longer using trans fats. But instead, they use palm oil. This alternative is actually also not good for health, especially heart health.
According to a study in The Journal of Nutrition in 2015, consumption of palm oil can increase LDL cholesterol levels higher than consumption of vegetable oil. The reason is that palm oil has a higher saturated fat content.
Regardless of the type of oil used, it is likely that instant popcorn still contains a large amount of saturated fat. Even one of the worst instant popcorn products can contain as much as four to six grams of saturated fat per serving.
2. High sodium
Some instant popcorn products are produced without using salt. However, instant popcorn products that don't have a 'no salt' label are usually high in sodium. The sodium content in instant popcorn like this can reach 300 milligrams per serving. Even though the total recommended sodium intake in a day is only 1,500 milligrams.
According to a study in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology in 2015, high sodium consumption is associated with the incidence of hypertension. Excess sodium intake can affect many systems in the body and have an adverse effect on the brain, kidneys and cardiovascular system.
3. Chemical substances
Many instant popcorn contains a variety of chemicals. The use of these chemicals has a variety of purposes, ranging from as preservatives, flavor enhancers, or preventing oil from leaking out of the package.
In the past, manufacturers used to use perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in microwave popcorn . However, PFAS exposure was in fact associated with the incidence of several types of cancer and several other adverse health effects. Therefore, PFAS is no longer used in the microwave popcorn industry .
Instead, some manufacturers use a PFAS substitute. According to a study in Environmental Health Perspectives in 2020, microwave popcorn products almost always contain PFAS, and people who regularly consume these products have higher serum levels of this compound than people who don't consume them.
Should instant popcorn be the enemy?
There are instant popcorn or microwave popcorn that contains a variety of unhealthy ingredients. However, that doesn't mean all instant popcorn products or microwave popcorn are bad. Some brands have products popcorn instant or microwave popcorn healthier for consumption.
But it would be much healthier if you make your own popcorn at home. That way, all the ingredients used to make popcorn can be more controlled.