Summer’s distracted me from blogging, but I just returned from the American Chemical Society meeting in Washington, DC. That meeting is a huge mishmash for me– a combination of catching up with former chemistry colleagues, meeting up with current writing colleagues, and getting myself back up to speed on what’s new with molecules.

Though it’s a small story in the broader sense of the ACS meeting, as a popcorn fan, I can’t help but be excited that my favorite salty snack– popcorn– also packs the highest per-gram punch of polyphenols, a class of antioxidants. Before anyone goes crazy, no, we shouldn’t all switch to a popcorn diet, particularly one that’s covered in butter, real or artificial.

Fortunately, I’m an old-fashioned gal when it comes to my kernels. I like them popped fresh in a little oil on a stove, just like Mom made before we had a microwave. Some of my most vivid memories of childhood road trips include riding down either I-95 or I-10 and the tug-of-war with my sister over who got to hold the large Charles’ Chips tin containing fluffy, crunchy saltiness that Mom had popped before we left home.

Back to the science, though– the popcorn was part of a larger study by Joe Vinson and his colleagues at the University of Scranton looking at antioxidants in whole grains. Like other plant-derived foods, whole grains have antioxidants and those chemicals could be part of the reason that these foods are healthy. Not a particularly new idea, I’ll admit. But as I’m crunching on a fresh pot of snack food, I don’t mind feeling just a little less guilty.