![]() ![]() And the 660-calorie large became a 1,030-calorie behemoth with 57 grams of sat fat. Our AMC smalls contained 370 calories and 20 grams of saturated fat-about what you'd get from that classic healthy snack: eight pats of butter.īased on what we were served, AMC lowballs its other sizes as well.įor example, the company's 430-calorie medium morphed into 590 calories and 33 grams of saturated fat. In fact, the small AMC popcorns that we bought weighed about 50 percent more than the company claimed. But they're bigger than the company acknowledges.Īccording to AMC, a small popcorn contains 225 calories. The only good news: AMC's popcorns aren't as super-sized as Regal's. And odds are, it's more than what Regal claims.ĪMC, the nation's second-largest chain (with 307 theaters in 30 states and the District of Columbia), also pops in coconut oil. But we didn't check to see how much topping the concession staff at Regal-or any other chain-adds. We analyzed the topping to make sure that it had no trans fat. According to Regal and the topping manufacturer, it adds 130 calories to a small, 200 calories to a medium, and 260 calories to a large. Toppings: For customers who think plain popcorn isn't soaked in enough oil, Regal offers a "buttery" topping. What's an xtra 200 to 500 calories when your snack hovers around the 1,000-calorie mark? They don't call them tubs for nothing. Other than for the free refill (shudder), why else would moviegoers pay $8 for a large (a medium is $7)?Īnother oopsy-daisy: According to Regal, a medium has 720 calories, while a large has 960 calories. The taller medium comes in a bag with straight sides, while the squatter large comes in a tapered tub that's wider at the top (see photo). How can a medium and large at Regal each hold the same 20 cups of popcorn? But the two pizzas pack "only" a day's worth of sat fat-nowhere near the three days' worth in a medium or large popcorn. You could think of each small as a Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pepperoni Pizza and each medium or large as two. The calories, on the other hand, may show up much sooner…and where you least want them.īudget 670 for a small and 1,200 for a medium or large. It takes years to clog those arteries…and years for your blood pressure to respond to the salt shock (550 milligrams of sodium-a third of a day's worth-for a small and 980 mg for a medium or large). Suggestion: Move your cardiologist's phone number to your speed dial before the lights go down. Of course, a large means a free refill (Yay!), so there's no limit to the damage you can do. And it gets worse from there.Ī "medium" (20 cups) or a "large" (also 20 cups) has 60 grams of sat fat. So even if you split it with a friend (unlikely), you each get nearly a day's worth of artery paste. Translation: A "small" popcorn (that's about 11 cups' worth) with no buttery topping has 34 grams of saturated fat. (In contrast, lard is 40 percent saturated.) It pops in coconut oil, which is 90 percent saturated. With 548 theaters in 39 states plus the District of Columbia, Regal is the largest chain in the United States. For Cinemark, our samples came from Texas, Illinois, and Maryland.) For two of the chains-Regal and AMC-we went to theaters in the Washington, D.C., area. But just to be sure, we analyzed samples from three different theaters for each chain. (Each gave us nutrition facts for its popcorn. Here's what we found when we sent samples of popcorn and toppings from the three largest theater chains to an independent lab for analysis. bag of potato chips, and that's assuming your theater pops in the best oil available and you get it without the "buttery" topping. Eating a tub of movie theater popcorn is more like eating an 8 oz. Turns out the Popcorn Board is right…if you're talking low-fat popcorn or (fat-free) air-popped. ![]() It sounds like they're munching on a stalk of broccoli, for goodness sakes. Maybe that's one reason people fork over $4 to $8 for a bag or tub of popcorn when they enter a movie theater. "It's a whole grainįood that's low in calories and fat and it's a complex carbohydrate." ![]() "Did you know that popcorn is among the healthiest-and tastiest-snacks around?" asks the Web site of the Popcorn Board, an industry group. ![]()
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