Newsletter

Popcorn's hidden benefits

Story by Nanci Hellmich

2012

Overview

Fruits and vegetables also contain polyphenols, along with vitamins and minerals not found in popcorn, he says. \"I don't want people to think they can just eat popcorn to get all the polyphenols they need. I don't want them to think of popcorn as an alternative to fruits and vegetables.\" Kantha Shelke, a spokesperson for the Institute of Food Technologists and a food chemist in Chicago who has studied popcorn, says the latest findings confirm other research. \"Popcorn has an anti-oxidant called ferulic acid that's also found in beans, corn, rice, wheat, barley and many other grains. Ferulic acid exhibits a wide range of therapeutic effects against cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and neuro-degenerative diseases (Alzheimer's) largely because of its strong anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activity.\" Still, there's no guarantee that the polyphenols are in the body long enough to have an effect, she says. \"It's possible that popcorn goes through the body really fast. If the polyphenols reside largely in the hull, which is principally insoluble fiber and not digested, they are not sitting in our digestive system for an extended period of time, and we may not absorb all the anti-oxidants,\" Shelke says. \"The hull may be loaded with nutrients that go right through us. The hull acts like a Roto-Rooter.\"

• Publisher: USA Today, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, Inc
• Subject: Hellmich, Nanci / Shelke, Kantha / Vinson, Joe