Movies and Popcorn, or maybe just movies ...

... and no popcorn.




Cinema popcorn is nutritional horror show: study


November 20, 2009
Agence France Presse
Sydney Morning Herald



Forget Freddy Krueger or flesh-eating zombies: the real villain of a night at the movies could be lurking in a bag of popcorn or drinks carton, according to a new US study.

Nutritional analysis of popcorn servings at some of America's biggest cinema chains has found mind-boggling calorie counts that may surprise consumers who think of the snack as a relatively healthy treat.

However the non-profit Centre for Science in the Public Interest compared some popcorn and drinks combos to consuming three McDonald's quarter-pounders topped with 12 pats of butter.

The CSPI said in a statement that a medium popcorn and softdrink combo at Regal, the United States' biggest movie theatre chain, contained an eye-popping 1610 calories and about 60 grams of saturated fat.

At AMC theatres, the second largest theatre chain, a large popcorn contained 1030 calories and 57 grams of saturated fat, CSPI said.

"Who expects about 1500 calories and three days' worth of heart-stopping fat in a popcorn and soda combo? That's the saturated fat of a stick of butter and the calories of two sticks of butter," CSPI senior nutritionist Jayne Hurley said in a statement.

"You might think you're getting Bambi, but you're really getting Godzilla."

The study said the high calorie counts could be attributed to the fact that corn was popped in coconut oil.

Popcorn cooked in healthier canola oil showed lower levels of saturated fats but similar levels of calories and higher sodium, the study found.












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