HEALTH WATCH : Purging Popcorn

Popcorn was supposed to be the guilt-free snack. Now a study released by the Center for Science in the Public Interest tells us that much of the popcorn sold in movie theaters is popped in coconut oil, making a healthy snack a whole lot less healthy. Coconut oil is a big no-no because it’s high in saturated fats, which are a key cause of heart disease. Ideally, popcorn should be cooked in something less artery-clogging; air-popping would cut the fat content dramatically.

And forget about butter-flavored topping. Everybody knows that the congealed yellow stuff pumped on top of popcorn at the theater can’t be good for you. There . We’ve said the responsible thing.

With that out of the way, can we have a little perspective here? Of course we should all strive to eat and live healthier. But heck, we also think there’s no need to double over in guilt if once a week or twice a month you like, as we do, to dive into a bag of warm popcorn (dare we say it? sometimes with butter flavor), washed down by a soda (yes, soda, not unfiltered juice) and top it off with a few pieces (OK, a whole box) of sugar-laden candy.

Maybe we should just take a packet of vitamins to the movies and pop them during the key climatic scenes. No rustling of popcorn bags or candy wrappers, just a quick gulp of B12, with bottled water, of course. Oops! No, that won’t work either: Another recent study suggested that vitamin supplements are pretty much useless to a person who eats a balanced diet.

What’s next? Vitamin-flavored popcorn? Wouldn’t help, but couldn’t hurt.