14 DAY TRIAL // You cannot imagine life without popcorn. Watching a movie is directly connected to a huge bag of popcorn and beer, or cola soda. But besides the obesity and metabolic syndrome induced by such habits and caused by the large amounts of ingested calories, the effect can be more directly harmful: popcorn consume can cause a severe lung disease.
A new study carried out at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) laboratory, and published in the journal "Toxicological Sciences," has discovered that a main popcorn chemical, inducing the butter flavor, can provoke lymphocytic bronchiolitis, characterized by cough and shortness of breath.
Diacetyl had been connected to this debilitating disease, also called "popcorn lung," in workers at microwavable popcorn packaging plants and at least one consumer. The new research showed that mice exposed to diacetyl vapors for three months got lymphocytic bronchiolitis. "The hard-to-treat condition causes vague symptoms such as cough and shortness of breath, and steadily worsens," warned the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
"This is one of the first studies to evaluate the respiratory toxicity of diacetyl at levels relevant to human health," said lead author Daniel Morgan, a researcher at NIEHS.
"The study results suggest that occupational exposure to butter flavor ingredient diacetyl boosts risk for the development of obliterative bronchiolitis," wrote the authors.
Popcorn consumers experience a relatively low risk for obliterative bronchiolitis because of diacetyl exposure, but still one case was reported by The Food and Drug Administration last September, pointing that consuming large amounts of butter-flavored popcorn for long periods could cause this condition. The self-proclaimed Mr. Popcorn had consumed popcorn twice a day for ten years before developing lymphocytic bronchiolitis.
Faced with this report, at least two microwave popcorn producers, ConAgra Foods Inc and Weaver Popcorn Co Inc, have announced they are in the search of an alternative to diacetyl in the butter-flavored popcorn.