Could popcorn be worse for your lungs than cigarettes?

Do you remember those “food-busters” reports put out by the non-profit advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), revealing the hidden health risks in everything from Chinese and Mexican food to fast-food hamburgers? In particular, I remember their report on movie theater popcorn – something I had been carefully choosing over JuJu Bees and Goobers for years. That was, until I read the CSPI report, which showed that a large bag of movie theater popcorn contained as much saturated fat as six Big Macs!

These days, I don’t go to the movies much. But when we rent one to watch at home, I still like to have my popcorn. I felt okay about that, because even though I got lazy and made the popcorn in my microwave, it wasn’t in the dangerous oils implicated in the CSPI report. But now I’ve learned about another health risk from popcorn – one that stems specifically from microwave brands.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that at least 24 workers at a microwave popcorn plant in Missouri have been diagnosed with serious lung conditions. The average age of the victims is 36, and before they became ill, most of them were in excellent health. So what caused this bizarre outbreak? According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the popcorn’s artificial butter flavoring is to blame.
Artificial Ingredient Increased Lung Risk 10 Times

Authorities became aware of the situation after a Kansas City doctor noticed a trend: within a few months, he treated a total of six patients with the same diagnosis: a rare lung disease called bronchiolitis obliterans. According to experts, this deadly disease permanently destroys lung tissue, and is usually only seen in isolated incidents. But in this case, all six patients were from the same small area of the state – and all worked at the same popcorn plant.

The doctor reported the trend to the state department of health, and the investigation began. NIOSH was called in, and they quickly realized there was good reason for them to be there. Their initial report noted that the 130 plant employees had twice the national rates of bronchitis and asthma and more than three times the rate of obstructed breathing. Ironically, the effects were even worse for people who had never smoked – their rates of obstructed breathing were almost 11 times higher than the national average.

Attention soon focused on the huge bubbling vats of flavoring that workers mixed at the plant each day. The mixture includes soybean oil, salt, artificial butter flavorings, and coloring agents, but NIOSH believes that one particular ingredient in the artificial butter flavoring is to blame for this rash of respiratory diseases. It’s called Diacetyl, and it’s the chemical compound that gives most artificial butter its flavor and aroma. The widely used (and FDA-approved) additive is found not only in artificial butter flavorings, but also in many wines, beers, cookies, candies, and cheese-flavored products.

The WSJ article doesn’t get very specific about the science behind the outbreaks. It says that after learning of the cases at the Missouri popcorn plant, NIOSH researchers fed “large quantities of artificial butter flavorings to laboratory animals” to determine their effects. According to the WSJ, “many” of these animals “developed the lung disease and died.” Now, they say, NIOSH is conducting animal tests on Diacetyl alone, to determine if the chemical flavoring is indeed the smoking gun.
The spin machine is in high gear. Don’t get caught in the web.

Sixteen current and former employees have filed for workman’s compensation, and employees have also filed a class action lawsuit against International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., the company that makes the butter flavoring, citing a host of permanent conditions that leave them unable to walk up a flight of stairs or play with their children. Six of the eight people stricken with bronchiolitis obliterans are now awaiting lung transplants, their only hope for long-term survival. But those claims and lawsuits have kicked the spin machine into full gear. There is no information about the case on the NIOSH web site. International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc. isn’t talking, and Gilster-Mary Lee, the company that runs the popcorn plant, will only say, “We do not believe that any of our products are responsible for any injuries that the plaintiffs may have suffered.”

According to the Wall Street Journal article, NIOSH “believes it is safe for consumers to eat microwave popcorn and other artificially flavored products that have received FDA approval.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t find that terribly reassuring, especially knowing what we do about how many drugs with FDA approval have had to be recalled just this year alone.

There are a whole lot of unanswered questions about this case, and I hope that NIOSH will be forthcoming with those details soon. We don’t know how long the workers were exposed to the flavoring before they developed symptoms. But the news reports include at least one story of a previously healthy 48-year-old woman who developed problems after only four months on the job. When she was first diagnosed, doctors told her she might only have one year to live.

Even in four months time, a worker at a popcorn plant has much more intense exposure than any of us would ever encounter, even if we ate an entire bag of microwave popcorn every single day. But it sure makes you wonder. If the flavoring is so toxic that it can destroy a healthy 48-year-old woman’s lungs in four months, what could it do to any of us over decades of enjoying popcorn, snacks, and wine?

This case focuses specifically on butter-flavored microwave popcorn, but you and I both know it’s a much bigger issue. Artificial flavorings, colorings, sweeteners and fats are added to many, many foods. We know they aren’t good for us, but it’s hard to avoid them. They’re everywhere, it seems, and sometimes convenience outweighs the conscience.

Believe me, I’ve eaten my share of butter-flavored microwave popcorn, and other foods with artificial ingredients. But this situation has renewed my resolve to choose my foods carefully, and to base my meals on whole foods and organic products as much as possible. It’s no sacrifice – whole, organic foods taste better, and they’re better for us in so many ways. And you don’t have to give up popcorn – just pop plain kernels in a hot air popper.

We encourage you to contact the FDA and demand that they review – or pull – their approval of Diacetyl based on this serious trend. You can reach the FDA through their website at http://www.fda.gov/comments.html or by phone at 1-888-463-6332. You may also write to them at the following address: U. S. Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857-0001.

As always, please feel free to pass this information along to friends and family you might want to remind about the dangers of artificial ingredients. When something as seemingly innocent as popcorn may be killing people, we all need to sit up and take notice.

Copyright 1997-2002 by Institute of Health Sciences, L.L.C.