Microwave popcorn fans worried about the potential for lung disease from butter flavoring fumes should know this: The sole reported case of the disease in a non-factory worker involves a man who popped the corn every day and inhaled from the bag.
Wayne Watson, 53, of Centennial, Colo., said he ate two or three bags of microwave popcorn every day for at least 10 years. In an interview with The Associated Press at his home late Wednesday, Watson said he is convinced his heavy consumption of popcorn caused his health problems.
Watson, who since February 2006 has been treated as an outpatient at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, where his condition was diagnosed, pantomimed how he would open the bag at chest level, look down and breathe in the fumes.
Dr. Cecile Rose, a lung specialist at the hospital, said in an interview Wednesday that until Watson’s condition was diagnosed, it had deteriorated, despite a CAT scan, steroid treatment and a biopsy.
Finally, Rose said, “I turned to the patient and said, ‘This is a very weird question … but have you been around a lot of popcorn?’ And his jaw dropped and he said, ‘How could you know that about me? Popcorn is my exclusive snack food preference. I am popcorn. I’m at least a two-pack a day user.’
“I was really surprised and relieved,” Rose said.
There are no warnings from federal regulators, nor is there medical advice on how consumers should treat news of the rare, life-threatening disease, bronchiolitis obliterans, also known as popcorn lung.
The popcorn flavoring contains the chemical diacetyl, which has been linked to lung damage in workers inhaling its fumes in food manufacturing plants. The chemical is a naturally occurring compound that gives butter its flavor and is also found in cheese and even wine, according to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
It’s been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a flavor ingredient, but hundreds of workers have sued flavoring makers in recent years for lung damage.
Dr. David Weissman, head of NIOSH’s division of respiratory diseases, said the key difference between homes and the factories where popcorn lung has been found is in the level of exposure to diacetyl. For example, he said, sickened quality control workers at a Jasper, Mo., popcorn factory popped hundreds of bags a day in their testing, not just one or two.
The first apparent case of lung damage from a home popcorn maker came to light Tuesday in a recent letter to federal regulators from Rose.
In the interview, Rose said that no definite link has been established between Watson’s heavy popcorn consumption and his lung disease, but that “the possibility raises public health concerns.”
Doctors tested Watson’s home for levels of diacetyl fumes and found that while popcorn was microwaved in the kitchen, peak levels of the fumes were similar to those measured in factories, she said.
While Rose said she still lets her kids microwave popcorn at home, she is concerned that the high levels of fumes measured at Watson’s home could be present anytime consumers microwave popcorn, and that these high levels—and not just the cumulative effect of exposures in the factory—could be a factor in causing the disease.
“We don’t know yet. We think it’s a possibility,” said Rose, who recommended the popcorn bags be tested further.
On Wednesday, the nation’s largest microwave popcorn maker, ConAgra, said it would stop using diacetyl within a year out of concern for its workers—not because of risks to consumers. ConAgra makes Act II and Orville Redenbacher brands.
The Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association said that Rose’s finding does not suggest a risk from eating microwave popcorn.
Watson said that he quit eating microwave popcorn earlier this year but that he still craves it. His prognosis is good, he said; he no longer uses an inhaler or takes steroids.
And instead of popcorn, he now snacks on fruits and vegetables.
“America: Read the labels, and just be careful about what we put into our bodies and always practice moderation,” Watson advised. “Don’t go crazy.”
