Popcorn workers at risk for lung disease, study shows

• Workers at popcorn production plants may be exposed to vapors that may cause lung disease, according to a study.
• Researchers, whose study appears in the August issue of Chest, say severe airway obstruction and irreversible damage to the lungs has been reported in microwave popcorn production workers in the past.
• The researchers write that inhalation of vapors from flavoring agents may have caused the severe lung disease.
• The current study found no link between popcorn-flavoring vapors and airway obstruction.
• But these new findings indicate that high exposure to popcorn flavoring agents is significantly associated with airway inflammation in popcorn production workers, says researcher Muge Akpinar-Elci, MD, in a news release.
• The researchers analyzed coughed-up mucus from workers at a popcorn plant and showed that high exposure to vapors from flavoring agents was linked to higher levels of inflammatory cells.
• This further analysis supported the evidence that popcorn production workers are prone to significant occupational hazards through exposure to flavoring agents, they write.
• The study was done at a microwave-popcorn plant that produced both flavored microwave popcorn and unflavored kernel popcorn.
• In the study, a total of 140 workers were selected to participate.
• Fifty-nine had jobs that exposed them directly to the popcorn-flavoring vapors; 22 held positions with low exposure.
• The researchers analyzed sputum samples and tests of lung functions on the participants.
• The researchers show that mucus from nonsmoking popcorn plant workers had significantly higher levels of inflammatory cells than a group of healthy nonsmokers.
• Americans consume more than 17 billion quarts of popped corn a year, according to a 2001 article from USA Weekend.
• That comes out to about 68 quarts apiece.
• Popcorn is low fat and contains less sodium than potato chips and pretzels, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Nutrition.