The Curtain Falls on Movie Popcorn!

I'm not sure what was the bigger surprise last night—my 14-yr-old daughter getting me to go with her to see New Moon (the latest Twilight movie) or coming home afterwards and reading an article about how bad the tub of popcorn (we had just eaten) was for me. The article was in a newsletter I subscribe to—Nutrition Action Health Letter—that's published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. If you've never read it, you should check it out.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) was founded in 1971. It's an independent nonprofit consumer health group that's supported by subscribers to the newsletter and foundation grants. CSPI accepts no government or industry funding and the newsletter accepts no advertising. CSPI advocates honest food labeling and advertising and safer and more nutritious foods. Their information is pretty solid without bias towards any particular group.

So, back to my "big surprise." I had received the December issue of Nutrition Action, but hadn't had time to read it yet. So, after the movie, I plopped down on the sofa and pictured right on the cover of the newsletter was a huge tub of popcorn. This got my full attention because I had just had that same tub in my lap about 30 minutes earlier. The headline on the cover read, "BIG—Movie Theaters Fill Buckets...and Bellies." The article begins, "Ready to sit back and enjoy the movie? Not yet. First, the theater is hoping you'll stop by the concession stand for a snack. You know, something light...like, say, a bucket of popcorn with the calories of a Hamburger plus a Quarter Pounder plus a Big Mac at McDonalds." I started to feel nauseous as all that popcorn began to churn in my stomach.

I took a deep breath and kept reading to discover that you can go from 400 to 1,200 calories depending on the size of popcorn. The candy options range from 300 to 1,100 empty calories and soda calories range from 150 to 500 calories! The stomach started churning again. I did feel a little resolve for I only had a popcorn. (Okay, it was a large, but I didn't have candy and I split the popcorn with my daughter. Plus we shared a Diet Coke. I'm such a good dad.)

This new revelation wasn't sitting too well with me because I was still fuming from the amount I spent for just popcorn ($6.50) and a soda ($4.50)! When I was handed the soda it felt light, so I popped the lid to discover it was 3/4 full. So I showed it to the manager, who promptly said, "I'm sorry sir." and then plopped in another scoop of ice! No lie! I took a deep breath, counted to 3 (1...2...3...), and then said, "Excuse me, Sir. I didn't want more ice, I want the $1.13 part of my soda that's missing." Luckily, the manager chuckled, and gave me a new, completely full soda (all $4.50 worth!). Of course my daughter's rolling her eyes while all of this is happening, cause she scared she's going to miss some of the movie.

So, now on top of having to take out a bank loan for the movie refreshments, I discover I just ate enough fat and calories for the next day and I haven't even had diner yet. The Nutrition Action article reports on a little investigative work it did to uncover the truth about movie snacks. Popcorn and topping samples from Regal Entertainment Group, AMC Theaters, and Cinemark were sent to an independent lab for analysis. Each theater provided nutrition information for its snacks. To make sure the test was accurate and fair, three different samples from three different theaters for each company were analyzed.

I never thought of movie popcorn as being healthy and I knew it was fattening, but I never expected to see the numbers that the study revealed.

Small Pop Corn

Regal—11 cups; popped in coconut oil; 34g sat fat; 670 calories; 550mg sodium (1Tbs. "buttery" topping adds—130 calories; 2g sat fat)

AMC—6 cups; popped in coconut oil; 20g sat fat; 370 calories; 210mg sodium (1Tbs. "buttery" topping adds—120 calories; 2g sat fat)

Cinemark—8 cups; popped in non-hydrogenated canola oil; 2g sat fat; 420 calories; 690mg sodium (1Tbs. "buttery" topping adds—130 calories; 2g sat fat)

Medium Pop Corn
Regal—20 cups; popped in coconut oil; 60g sat fat; 1,200 calories; 980mg sodium (1.5 Tbs. "buttery" topping adds—200 calories; 3g sat fat)

AMC—9 cups; popped in coconut oil; 33g sat fat; 590 calories; 330mg sodium (1.5 Tbs. "buttery" topping adds—180 calories; 3g sat fat)

Cinemark—14 cups; popped in non-hydrogenated canola oil; 3g sat fat; 760 calories; 1,240mg sodium (1.5 Tbs. "buttery" topping adds—200 calories; 3g sat fat)

Large Pop Corn

Regal—Same as the Medium. The medium comes in a bag and the large comes in a tub which looks bigger because it's tapered at the top, but it's not. With the large, you do get free refills. (2 Tbs. "buttery" topping adds—260 calories; 4g sat fat)

AMC—16 cups; popped in coconut oil; 57g sat fat; 1,030 calories; 580mg sodium (2 Tbs. "buttery" topping adds—240 calories; 4g sat fat)

Cinemark—17 cups; popped in non-hydrogenated canola oil; 4g sat fat; 910 calories; 1,500mg sodium (1.5 Tbs. "buttery" topping adds—260 calories; 5g sat fat)

Surprising, huh? At least our movie was at a Cinemark, so our popcorn was popped in non-hydrogenated canola oil and the entire tub only had 4g of saturated fat and we only ate about 2/3 of the bucket. (Okay, I'm just trying to justify our bad snack, but hey, for the sake of precious father-daughter time...I guess it was worth it.)

Luckily, I can't afford to go to the movies very often, but next time I do, I'm thinking I may have to smuggle in some Orville Redenbacher's Smart Pop! 1 bag of Smart Pop only has 260 calories and 4 grams of fat (only 1 of which is saturated).