If you’re planning a trip to the cinema, you might want to skip the popcorn as worrying new research today has revealed that popcorn could cause Alzheimer’s Disease. Yes, really.
Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common form of dementia in the world and it affects around 36 million people globally. It is a disease that is common in older people and it slowly damages brain cells, leading to a loss of brain function. It is known for causing a loss of memory, social skills and normal emotional reactions. In short, it’s a heart-breaking disease and it’s not pretty.
So what does this have to do with popcorn? Well, the Irish Sun reports that the butter flavouring on the cinema snack contains a flavouring known as Diacetyl, and some shocking new research has raised fears that this flavouring could cause the brain disease.
Researchers believe that the artificial food flavouring actually encourages beta-amyloid proteins in the brain to ‘clump’ together and this ‘clumping’ is one of the trademarks of the early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease.
We can’t watch a film without some popcorn. Can you?
However, researchers from the American Chemical Society have insisted that you don’t have to give up popcorn completely – apparently the average moviegoer is safe. The risk only applies to people who eat ridiculous amounts of the salty snack or who have been exposed to a massive quantity of the flavouring.
Hmm…we don’t know about you, but we’ll probably switch to a small popcorn every time we go to the cinema from now on…
