Popcorn lung

Sep 7, 2007 2:50 am US/Eastern
'Popcorn Lung' Patient Ate Two Bags A Day

(CBS News) Wayne Watson loved microwave popcorn so much he would eat at least two bags each night, breathing in the steam from the just-opened package, until doctors told him it may have made him sick.

Watson, whose case of "popcorn lung" is the sole reported case of the disease in a non-factory worker, said he is convinced his heavy consumption of popcorn caused his health problems.

"You know, it's one of those things that you kind of shake your head and say, how can anybody eat that much popcorn? But it was about two bags a day every day for about ten years," Watson told Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen

Popcorn flavoring contains the chemical diacetyl, which has been linked to lung damage in factory workers testing hundreds of bags of microwave popcorn per day and inhaling its fumes. 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.

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.

Watson, 53, told CBS he first noticed something was wrong about three or four years ago during church choir practice.

"My lung capacity just seemed to start diminishing and I couldn't sustain my notes like I used to be able to," he said.

That's when he sought out Dr. Cecile Rose, a lung specialist at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver.

Rose said she initially didn’t know what was causing Watson's breathing problems.

"He had a lung condition that we know is related to something he was inhaling," Rose said. "And I took a very complete history, including a work history and an environmental history and found nothing. And it wasn't really until the end of his initial medical evaluation where I turned to him and asked him … was he exposed to or was he around a lot of popcorn? And his jaw dropped and he asked me how I would possibly know that about him."

Rose said that no definite link can yet be made between Watson's popcorn consumption and his lung disease.

But, she said, "I think it's very important that the industry is taking this very seriously. They've known about the fact that workers who are using diacetyl can be at risk for lung disease. And if we're right in this case that consumers who are heavy users may be at risk as well, I think that the industry needs to be responsive to that possibility."

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, 53, said his breathing has improved since his doctor told him to quit eating his extra-buttery microwave popcorn and lose weight. He said he's dieting and lost some 35 pounds, regained lung capacity, and his prognosis is good.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. )
From Our Partners

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Oh so coconutee ice cream

Yep, another GFCF ice cream. Oh, and, it's free of soy, rice, nuts, corn, dyes and just about everything else. I'll confess now, this is not my recipe, just as most of these are not truly mine. Most are variations of something I saw somewhere else. And, when I first saw this recipe, I truly had doubts that it would work. But, it did. It's great. I made two variations -- vanilla and carob (alternative for chocolate, but cocoa surely could be used too). Here's how.

Ingredients:

2 x 14 oz cans coconut milk (I bought organic)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp carob powder (or cocoa)

For vanilla, mix all but the carob in a bowl. Whisk well. Pour into an ice cream maker and follow directions. I use a Rival machine and it took less than an hour.

For carob, mix all ingredients together in a bowl, whisk and use the ice cream maker.

The plain mix has a distinctive coconut flavor, which some will like and others will not. My one daughter did not. But she loves the carob. So, anything to mask the coconut will work -- chocolate or carob chips, fruit, cocoa, nuts, pieces of cookies, etc.

Pancakes II

This is a modification of my original pancake recipe, which you'll find on this site.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour mix (I use 1/3 cup tapioc starch, 1/3 cup sorghum flour, 1/3 cup millet flour)
2 tbsp cane sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp syrup -- pure maple is good, agave is good, honey is good, Steen's is good.
1/3-2/3 cup water

Mix dry, then add liquids. Whisk until smooth and "pancakey." Drop a tsp of oil in a pan and heat. Then make pancakes. I top these either with syrup or sprinkle Domino powdered sugar on top.

High Fructose Corn Syrup -- dangerous stuff

Soda Warning? High-fructose Corn Syrup Linked To Diabetes, New Study Suggests

Science Daily — Researchers have found new evidence that soft drinks sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may contribute to the development of diabetes, particularly in children. In a laboratory study of commonly consumed carbonated beverages, the scientists found that drinks containing the syrup had high levels of reactive compounds that have been shown by others to have the potential to trigger cell and tissue damage that could cause the disease, which is at epidemic levels.

New evidence suggests that sodas sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup may increase the risk of diabetes, particularly in children. (Credit: American Chemical Society)

HFCS is a sweetener found in many foods and beverages, including non-diet soda pop, baked goods, and condiments. It is has become the sweetener of choice for many food manufacturers because it is considered more economical, sweeter and more easy to blend into beverages than table sugar. Some researchers have suggested that high-fructose corn syrup may contribute to an increased risk of diabetes as well as obesity, a claim which the food industry disputes. Until now, little laboratory evidence has been available on the topic.

In the current study, Chi-Tang Ho, Ph.D., conducted chemical tests among 11 different carbonated soft drinks containing HFCS. He found 'astonishingly high' levels of reactive carbonyls in those beverages. These undesirable and highly-reactive compounds associated with "unbound" fructose and glucose molecules are believed to cause tissue damage, says Ho, a professor of food science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. By contrast, reactive carbonyls are not present in table sugar, whose fructose and glucose components are "bound" and chemically stable, the researcher notes.

Reactive carbonyls also are elevated in the blood of individuals with diabetes and linked to the complications of that disease. Based on the study data, Ho estimates that a single can of soda contains about five times the concentration of reactive carbonyls than the concentration found in the blood of an adult person with diabetes.

Ho and his associates also found that adding tea components to drinks containing HFCS may help lower the levels of reactive carbonyls. The scientists found that adding epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a compound in tea, significantly reduced the levels of reactive carbonyl species in a dose-dependent manner when added to the carbonated soft drinks studied. In some cases, the levels of reactive carbonyls were reduced by half, the researchers say.

"People consume too much high-fructose corn syrup in this country," says Ho. "It's in way too many food and drink products and there's growing evidence that it's bad for you." The tea-derived supplement provides a promising way to counter its potentially toxic effects, especially in children who consume a lot of carbonated beverages, he says.

But eliminating or reducing consumption of HFCS is preferable, the researchers note. They are currently exploring the chemical mechanisms by which tea appears to neutralize the reactivity of the syrup.Ho's group is also probing the mechanisms by which carbonation increases the amount of reactive carbonyls formed in sodas containing HFCS. They note that non-carbonated fruit juices containing HFCS have one-third the amount of reactive carbonyl species found in carbonated sodas with HFCS, while non-carbonated tea beverages containing high-fructose corn syrup, which already contain EGCG, have only about one-sixth the levels of carbonyls found in regular soda.

In the future, food and drink manufacturers could reduce concerns about HFCS by adding more EGCG, using less HFCS, or replacing the syrup with alternatives such as regular table sugar, Ho and his associates say. Funding for this study was provided by the Center for Advanced Food Technology of Rutgers University. Other researchers involved in the study include Chih-Yu Lo, Ph.D.; Shiming Li, Ph.D.; Di Tan, Ph.D.; and Yu Wang, a doctoral student.

This research was reported August 23 at the 234th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, during the symposium, "Food Bioactives and Nutraceuticals: Production, Chemistry, Analysis and Health Effects: Health Effects."

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by American Chemical Society.

Copyright © 1995-2007 ScienceDaily LLC — All rights reserved — Contact: editor@removeme.sciencedaily.com

Ginger spice cookies

The neat thing about this recipe is you can make two different cookies using the same recipe. Confused? Don't be. It's simple. This really is a slight variation of a ginger snap cookie recipe. I've made it two ways -- one with more liquid and one with less. The difference is one version comes out like a crisp spice cookie and the other a soft, moist spice cookie. To my kids, it's two different cookies and allows for some variation.

Ingredients
-------------
1/2 cup gf flour -- either sorghum, chickpea, millet, etc.
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup potato starch or 1/2 corn starch *see below
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp egg replacer
1.5 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp molasses (or cane syrup or agave syrup or honey)
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients. Blend. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes. This recipe tends to make a crispier, crunchier cookie.

To make softer cookie, add 1/4 cup molasses rather than just 1 tbsp. Bake same.

*Note: I interchange the potato starch and the corn flour sometimes. The starch makes a lighter, chewier cookie. The flour makes a denser cookie with a different flavor.

Non-dairy ice cream

So, do you have a child who can't eat ice cream of any kind? Try this.

This is a non-dairy, non-DariFree, non-rice milk, non-almond milk, non-soy milk ice cream.

It's chocolate but either cocoa or carob may be used. And, it's easy.

3/4 cup tapioca starch (or arrowroot or corn starch)
1/4 cup cocoa or carob powder (i use soy-free carob)
1.5 cups warm water
2 tbsp organic Spectrum shortening
1 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 cup powdered sugar (i make my own from organic cane sugar)
1 tbsp syrup of any kind (i use steen's for this)
1/2 tsp cinnamon (opt.)
1/4 tsp ground cloves (opt.)

In a blender, pour the hot water. Add the shortening. Add the starch and carob/cocoa powder. Add xanthan gum, sugar, syrup and spices. Blend on low 30 seconds. Blend on high 30 seconds. Pour into freezer safe container and freeze overnight.

This really was an experiment that sorta worked. My kids ate it. I'm still tinkering with the recipe. I may try a version using coconut milk next. Stay tuned.