Study supports concerns over popcorn butter flavor (diacetyl)

Diacetyl - a chemical used in butter flavoring – may damages the lungs by reacting and forming complexes with amino acids in cell membranes, according to a new US study.

Findings published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry are amongst the first to propose a mechanism between diacetyl and the lung disease bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), diagnosed in a number of workers at US popcorn manufacturing plants in 2007.

Following those initial reports some of the largest US popcorn makers, including Pop Weaver and ConAgra, removed diacetyl from popcorn flavoring. The ingredient is also often used in flavorings for snacks, sweets and frozen foods.

Researchers from RTI International and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), both located in the Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, now report that their new study is the first to structurally characterize the formation of links between diacetyl and the amino acid arginine-containing compounds in cell membranes.