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Contact: Michael Bernstein 619-525-6268 (March 23-28, San Diego Press Center) 202-872-6042
Michael Woods 619-525-6268 (March 23-28, San Diego Press Center) 202-872-6293
EMBARGOED FOR
RELEASE: Sunday, March 25, 2012, Noon Eastern Time
A press conference on
this topic will be held at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time, March 25, 2012, in the ACS
Press Center, Room 15A, in the San Diego Convention Center. Reporters can
attend in person or access live audio and video of the event and ask questions
at www.ustream.tv/channel/acslive.
Popcorn: The snack with even higher
antioxidants levels than fruits and vegetables
SAN DIEGO, March 25, 2012 — Popcorn’s
reputation as a snack food that’s actually good for health popped up a few
notches today as scientists reported that it contains more of the healthful antioxidant substances called "polyphenols"
than fruits and vegetables. They spoke at the 243rd National
Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world’s
largest scientific society, being held here this week. Joe Vinson, Ph.D., a
pioneer in analyzing healthful components in chocolate, nuts and other common
foods, explained that the polyphenols are more concentrated in popcorn, which
averages only about 4 percent water, while polyphenols are diluted in the 90
percent water that makes up many fruits and vegetables.
In another
surprising finding, the researchers discovered that the hulls of the popcorn
–– the part that everyone hates for its tendency to get caught in
the teeth –– actually has the highest concentration of polyphenols
and fiber.
“Those hulls
deserve more respect,” said Vinson, who is with the University
of Scranton in Pennsylvania. “They are nutritional gold nuggets.”
The overall
findings led Vinson to declare, “Popcorn may be the perfect snack food. It’s the
only snack that is 100 percent unprocessed whole grain. All other grains are
processed and diluted with other ingredients, and although cereals are called
“whole grain,” this simply means that over 51 percent of the weight of the
product is whole grain. One serving of popcorn will provide more than 70
percent of the daily intake of whole grain. The average person only gets about
half a serving of whole grains a day, and popcorn could fill that gap in a very
pleasant way.”
Vinson cautioned,
however, that the way people prepare and serve popcorn can quickly put a dent in its healthful image. Cook it in a potful of oil, slather
on butter or the fake butter used in many movie theaters, pour on the salt; eat
it as “kettle corn” cooked in oil and sugar — and popcorn can become a
nutritional nightmare loaded with fat and calories.
“Air-popped popcorn
has the lowest number of calories, of course,” Vinson said. “Microwave popcorn
has twice as many calories as air-popped, and if you pop your own with oil,
this has twice as many calories as air-popped popcorn. About 43 percent of
microwave popcorn is fat, compared to 28 percent if you pop the corn in oil
yourself.”
Likewise, Vinson
pointed out that popcorn cannot replace fresh fruits
and vegetables in a healthy diet. Fruits and vegetables contain vitamins and other
nutrients that are critical for good health, but are missing from popcorn.
Vinson explained
that the same concentration principle applies to dried fruit versus regular
fruit, giving dried fruit a polyphenol edge. Previous studies found low concentrations
of free polyphenols in popcorn, but Vinson’s team did the first study to
calculate total polyphenols in popcorn. The amounts of these antioxidants were
much higher than previously believed, he said. The levels of polyphenols
rivaled those in nuts and were up to 15 times greater than whole-grain tortilla
chips.
The new study found
that the amount of polyphenols found in popcorn was up to 300 mg a serving
compared to 114 mg for a serving of sweet corn and 160 mg for all fruits per
serving. In addition, one serving of popcorn would provide 13 percent of an
average intake of polyphenols a day per person in the U.S. Fruits provide 255
mg per day of polyphenols and vegetables provide 218 mg per day to the average
U.S. diet.
Michael G. Coco, an undergraduate chemistry student at the University of
Scranton who participated in the study, said he benefited in several ways.
“From working on this project with Dr. Vinson, I've gained experience
and many insights in doing scientific research,” said Coco. “Besides the
obvious things like learning how to use instrumentation and perform analyses,
I've also learned that research is extremely satisfying, especially when you
discover or think of something no one else has thought of.”
The scientists acknowledged funding from the University of Scranton.
The American Chemical Society is a non-profit organization chartered by
the U.S. Congress. With more than 164,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest
scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related
research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific
conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically
receive news releases from the American Chemical Society contact newsroom@acs.org.
# # #
Joe Vinson, Ph.D. Department of Chemistry
Scranton, Penn. 18510-4626
Phone: 570-941-7551 Fax: 570-941-7510
Email: Vinson@scranton.edu
Abstract
Popcorn, one of the most popular snacks
foods in the world, is known for being a high fiber, healthy food. Research has
found that popcorn contains significant amounts of the class of antioxidants
known as polyphenols. Being a popular snack food, polyphenols from popcorn are
possibly part of a large portion of the polyphenol dietary intake. Popcorn
without any oils is also a 100% whole grain food, whose consumption is
recommended in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Free and total polyphenols
for 40 different kernels and ingredients have been quantified using the
Folin-Ciocalteu and FRAP assays. The identity of the
polyphenols have been identified using UV/Vis HPLC and LC-MS. Ferulic
Acid has been identified as one of the major components. By
quantifying and identifying the polyphenols in popcorn; some predictions about
their bioactivity can be made.
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