“Watch out” moviegoers!
luc1ana on Nov 20th 2009
If you think that the scariest villain in the movie theaters is Freddy Krueger or the little girl with long black hair from The Ring,you are wrong. The most frightening villain is hidden in an innocent popcorn combo, according to this week’s research.
The terrifying results of the laboratory analysis of popcorn sold in some of the largest and most popular movie theaters in the country, particularly for people that consumed it as a healthy snack.
The nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) explains that a medium popcorn and soda combo at Regal, the country’s biggest movie theater chain, contain 1,610 calories and 60 grams—of saturated fat. That’s like eating six scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, four bacon strips, and four sausages.
At the AMC, the second biggest movie theater chain, the large popcorn contains 1.030 calories and 57 gram- of saturated fat. It’s like eating a pound of baby back ribs topped with a scoop of Häagen-Dazs ice cream.
The CSPI pointed out that popcorn sold at Regal and AMC has more calories than they claim to have. “Regal and AMC are our nominees for Best Supporting Actor in the Obesity Epidemic,” said CSPI senior nutritionist Jayne Hurley. “Who expects about 1,500 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. You might think you’re getting Bambi, but you’re really getting Godzilla.”
The analysis shows that the high quantity of fat and calories is caused by the coconut oil used to cook the corn. According to the CSPI, if the popcorn was cooked with healthier oils such as canola, it would have fewer calories but more sodium.
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5 Responses to ““Watch out” moviegoers!”
That’s really disappointing; I can’t go to the movies without worrying about how much exercise I need to put in after enjoying New Moon.
Hahaha that’s a joke. When I go to the movies nowadays I skip the whole popcorn and beverage shenanigans. I’d rather enjoy my movie and watch it rather than wonder which of my companions has the nachos.
This is fascinating and it is scary. Buying popcorn seems like to ritual to so many movie-goers. They have to have it!It would be interesting to see what kind of pressure is being put on the theater industry to change the recipe or at least post the calorie count.
I believe this has been an on-going struggle for quite some time now. I remember being a child in the ’90s and this same bit of news popping-up. I guess there really isn’t much pressure on the movie industry to change it. Or, they probably pass the blame to their food service providers.
That stuff’s usually tremendously overpriced anyway. Didn’t need another reason to never buy it, but thank you anyway! I’ve always found it to be much easier to go to any nearby grocery or drug store and smuggle in a bag or two of chips or candy and a bottle of juice or water to share with fellow movie-goers. It’s cheaper, there’s a better set of choices, and you can regulate your movie caloric intake to less than… two sticks of butter.
wow, I used to work at a movie theatre. Its up to the person buying to put butter on it or to leave it plain. Some people asked for it to be buttered all the way through, in layers! I bet if they knew this info they would change their minds! However, we didn’t use coconut oil to make the popcorn.