Once in a while, we all like picking some packed food for light snacks. The same goes for popcorn because they save your time and effort to prepare and pop them. And one of the popular popcorn packs we often reach out to is the one from Smartfood. But is Smartfood popcorn healthy?
Smartfood popcorn is popped with added cheese, sugar, fat, corn oil, buttermilk, cheese,etc. The amount of sugar per serving is more than you should consume on a regular basis. All these ingredients naturally make popcorn unhealthy, especially if you consume a larger amount at a time.
In this article, I will discuss the ingredients in detail to help you understand how Smartfood popcorn is processed food and whether it has any health benefits at all. So if you want to know more about it, I suggest you read the full article.
Smartfood Popcorn Ingredients
The best way to know if any food is healthy is to look into its ingredients. As Smartfood Popcorn has 5 different flavors, some ingredients vary from one another. So let’s look at what these flavors contain to calculate their health benefit.
| Flavor | Ingredients |
| White Cheddar | Popcorn, salt, vegetable oil (sunflower, corn, and canola oil), buttermilk, whey, cheddar cheese, and natural flavors. |
| Flamin’ Hot
White Cheddar |
Popcorn, salt, vegetable oil (sunflower, corn, and canola oil), buttermilk, whey, cheddar cheese, natural flavors, potassium chloride, lactose, yeast, citric acid, Romano cheese, milk ingredients, etc. |
| Caramel Cheddar Mix | Popcorn, salt, vegetable oil (sunflower, corn, and canola oil), buttermilk, butter, maltodextrin, whey, cheddar cheese (milk, salt, enzymes), artificial color, sugar, paprika, parmesan cheese, gum acacia, and guar gum, natural ingredients, milk ingredients, etc. |
| Movie Theater Butter | Popcorn, salt, vegetable oil (sunflower, corn, and canola oil), butter, maltodextrin, gum acacia, skim milk, tocopherols (antioxidant), medium chain triglycerides, milk ingredients, natural flavor, etc. |
| Sweat & Salty
Kettle Corn |
Popcorn, salt, sugar, corn syrup, soy lecithin, canola oil, caramel color, rosemary extract (antioxidant), natural flavors, ascorbic acid, soy ingredients, etc.
Allergy Warning: Made with similar equipment that contains tree nuts and peanuts. |
| Sea Salt | Popcorn, salt, sea salt, vegetable oil (sunflower, corn, and canola oil), soy ingredients, etc. |
So what do the ingredients say about this popcorn? Is Smartfood Popcorn healthy?
Even if the ingredients don’t say it out loud, popcorn is a whole-grain food. Almost all these flavors contain sugar that can easily spike up your blood sugar. Even the oils the popcorn contain scream out loud that these popcorn packs are processed food.
On top of that, Smartfood Popcorn contains milk ingredients or dairy products. Now, this is not unhealthy. But for people with lactose intolerance, it can be an issue. Moreover, the artificial colors used in some flavors contain potential health risks, especially for young children.
So if you really want to pick a flavor, I suggest going with the Sea Salt one as it does not contain sugar or dairy and is the least unhealthy option.
Do All Smartfood Popcorn Flavors Contain Sugar?
To find the answer to this question, check out the following chart.
| Flavor | Serving Size | Sugar |
| White Cheddar | 2.5 cups | 2g |
| Flamin’ Hot
White Cheddar |
2.5 cups | 1g |
| Caramel Cheddar Mix | 1.5 cups | 6g |
| Movie Theater Butter | 3 cups | 0g |
| Sweat & Salty
Kettle Corn |
1.5 cups | 12g |
| Sea Salt | 3.75 cups | 0g |
If you look at the ingredients chart once again and the chart above, you will notice that all other flavors, except Movie Theater Butter and Sea Salt, contain sugar. White Cheddar, Flamin’ Hot, and Caramel Cheddar contain about 2g, 1g, and 6g of sugar per serving.
However, Sweet & Salty Kettle Corn contains sugar the most, which is 12g per serving. So if you plan to reduce your sugar intake, avoid this one at any cost. But that does not mean you should overlook Caramel Cheddar. It may seem this popcorn flavor has comparatively low sugar. But as the serving size is small, the amount of sugar you consume is actually high.
Can Smartfood Popcorn Make You Gain/Loss Weight?
The popcorn alone can’t ruin your weight loss plan because it only offers a handful of popcorn on each serving. However, each serving comes with a good amount of calorie intake. And the problem with such processed food is that they contain sugar, oil, and various artificial flavors, making it challenging to stop eating once you start.
That is why it is best to avoid eating Smartfood Popcorn if you plan to lower your calorie intake. Because while eating such popcorn may not make you gain a great deal of weight, it will not help you lose any either.
EndNote
Popcorn is a whole grain food with fiber and a low-calorie density until you add sugar, butter, oil, and other ingredients and turn it into processed food. And all the ingredients that Smartfood Popcorn containsindicate the opposite of healthy food.
So is Smartfood Popcorn healthy? As long as you don’t overeat it, it is completely fine. However, consuming too much of this popcorn is unhealthy and comes with health risks.
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