Movie Popcorn Even More Fattening Than You Think

There is bad, if unsurprising, news for moviegoers who routinely stuff their faces with incessant handfuls of popcorn: Not only does your maddening snack rustling ruin the delicate movie magic, but you're making yourself morbidly obese and prone to heart disease, too. Lab tests conducted by the Center for Science in the Public Interest have determined that popcorn at the major movie chains has way more calories than cud-chewing plebes are led to believe. For cinema snack-hounds, these lab results are more horrifying than The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past:

Regal says that its medium popcorn has 720 calories and that its large has 960. But CSPI's lab tests found that those numbers were understated. Regal’s medium and large sizes each had 1,200 calories and, thanks to being popped in coconut oil, 60 grams of saturated fat. A "small" at Regal has 670 calories and 34 grams of saturated fat. That’s about as many calories as a Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pepperoni Pizza—except the popcorn has three times the saturated fat. ... And every tablespoon of "buttery" oil topping adds another 130 calories. Asking for topping is like asking for oil on French fries or potato chips.

The popcorn at AMC, the nation's second-largest theater chain, has 1,030 calories and 57 grams of saturated fat, which CSPI says is "like eating a pound of baby back ribs topped with a scoop of Häagen-Dazs ice cream—except that the popcorn has an additional day’s worth of saturated fat." Actually, that sounds pretty good.

"Sitting through a two-hour movie isn't exactly like climbing Mt. Everest," says nutritionist Jayne Hurley. "Why do theaters think they need to feed us like it is?" Obviously, she hasn't seen 2012—that movie's exhausting. The Post sent a reporter over to Regal Union Square to get reactions from moviegoers, and one mom suggested, "They could try to offer vegetables or cut-up fruit." But somehow we don't see popcorn munchers shelling out six bucks for a tub of celery sticks.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in Food on November 19, 2009 3:16 PM

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Comments [rss]

nik13

I have always found smell of popcorn revolting. My revulsion to it only got worse when I found out what goes into "butter flavoring". Basically some industrial aldehydes like c-10, c-11 & c-12, both undecylic & undecylenic, topped with diacetyl & diluted in some inexpensive vegetable oil. Everything approved by FDA & Rabbinate of America of course.

Heated diacetyl dissolves humans from inside. But then do those fatsos care?

Kevin Walsh

For Pete's sake.

Are we going to have to eat broccoli and tofu at movie theatrers now?

www.forgotten-ny.com

NannyState

Worse: falafel.

jpeditor

"Not only does your maddening snack rustling ruin the delicate movie magic, "

how precious...

NannyState

When they say double feature, they MEAN double feature.

citizenerased

Actually popcorn is exactly as fattening as I think.

Eating a bucket of anything is probably not a good idea.

T Howard

These articles popping up today on coconut oil in movie theater popcorn (there was also a news report today on Good Morning America) is surprising for a couple of reasons:

1) The saturated fat in coconut oil is NOT like the saturated fat in meat or dairy products (bye-bye baby back rib & ice cream analogy). Is a lot of it bad? Well, yes, it's FAT, but it is the same type of saturated fat found in avacados. Plant-based saturated fats are easily digested by the human body, and have a number of health benefits that animal-based saturated fats do not have. In fact, studies of people in tropical regions where coconut and coconut oil is a large part of the diet do not show any of the health issues that people in other areas of the world have.

2) Theaters have been using coconut oil to pop popcorn for years. A similar brouhaha arose over this in the 90s, and the theaters made no statements about changing their ways. Why is this an issue again, all of a sudden?

Jen S

Not surprising, but still - DAMN IT!

hotstepper

does this bucket of popcorn make my ass look fat?

gossipgirl

Let's get Alice Waters on this. We could grow a garden instead!

JenChungsBaby

So as Hollywood movies become less filling the snacks at the concession stand become more so.

Trilby16

It is always the fattest people you see with loaded trays in movie theatres. The other day on the subway, I looked around and only the very fat people on the train were eating, and it was crap like 8 fat-filled oatmeal cookies for a dollar. You can just imagine what's in them.

People, this is why you are fat!

RevWaldo

Wait, fat people eat more than skinny people? Really? I guess that makes a certain sense. Good to know. (nudge) Oh, sorry, I'll have the large popcorn and pretzel nuggets, please...

Trilby16

Yeah, duh! But many fat people claim it's genetic or something in the food supply.

babyhitler

Remember when mcds fries tasted good? That was before they banned tranfats. Now they taste like shit

Spirit of 76

McDonald's didn't switch from transfats, i.e. hydrogenated oil. They switched from beef tallow. Some of the best potato chips I ever had were Groff's, back when they used lard for frying.

I'd like the see CSPI try to stop me from carrying a Luther burger into a theater.

ANGRYGOD11

You mean the long lines, bad service and high prices weren't enough reasons to smuggle in food into a movie theatre?

JMH

"Regal’s medium and large sizes each had 1,200 calories"

How do the medium and large both have the same number of calories?

I am intrigued by this ribs-topped-with-ice-cream idea.

ides_of_march

Let the health food fascists open their own theater. They can sell bean curd, brussel sprouts and tree bark for movie goers to munch on. I'm sure they'll do a booming business. I suspect this study was done to lay the foundation for future lawsuits and more government regulation about what we're allowed to eat.

mzungu

i especially like the quote from the LA Times article: "Regal, in its statement, said that movie popcorn is not meant to be daily fare and that it acknowledges some of the food it sells is healthier than others."

hahaha. what's the "healthy choice" on the menu? Raisinets?

jibbly

Seriously, the last time I was at a theater it was all nachos with fake cheese, year-old looking hotdogs, and popcorn. Oh and candy, stacks and stacks of corn-syrupy candy.