3 Not-So-Fun Facts About Popcorn

Here are a few unfortunate facts about popcorn—our favourite movie-watching snack.

Air-popped plain popcorn has only about 30 calories a cup and, being a whole-grain, is also high in fibre.

But who are we kidding? When we get to the theatre, we want the big bad bag.

At the multiplex, the average large popcorn with butter has:

  • more than 1,200 calories
  • 1,000-plus mg of sodium
  • more than 60 grams of fat

While no Canadian stats exist, our neighbours south of the border eat an outstanding 13 billion quarts each year, and the average American consumes around 40 quarts. We can only assume our nation has a similar habit per capita.

A version of this article appeared in the July/August 2016 issue with the headline, “Pop!”, p. 15.