Popcorn: The Perfect Snack Food?
by Balance
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posted Mar 26 2012 12:41PM
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 Popcorn has long been considered a healthy snack food. Its low fat, low salt, natural properties have made it a strong recommendation over chips, pretzels, candy, or other snack foods. But a new study has given us more reason to pop some corn on a daily basis.
Joe Vinson, Ph.D., known for finding healthy properties in foods like chocolate, nuts, and other common foods, has found that popcorn contains more of the healthful antioxidants called "polyphenols" than fruits and vegetables. Popcorn's low water content allows polyphenols to be more concentrated than in fruits and vegetables which are close to 90 percent water. He also found that the hulls of popcorn, the part most of us hate, actually have the highest concentration of polyphenols and fiber. This on top of the fact that popcorn is 100 percent whole grain and low in calories could make it the perfect snack food.
However, one must to careful when preparing popcorn. By adding tons of salt, butter, imitation butter, and cheese, these health benefits go out the window. Popcorn can become a pile of calories and fat while making you believe you're eating healthy. Air popped popcorn is your best bet, followed by oil popped, and then microwave popcorn. Eat is still healthy as long as you avoid the additives!
source Science Daily
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