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It is a ritual as comforting and delectable as watching the movie itself. The house lights dim, the film rolls, and the hand, unfettered by guilt, reaches into that bucket overflowing with crunchy munchies. Popcorn, after all, is healthful, so long as you avoid the ''buttery flavor'' topping. Right? Think again.
A pop was heard round the world recently when the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer group specializing in nutrition research, announced that good old movie popcorn is, well, hazardous to your health. Alas, according to CSPI, popcorn in theaters is frequently loaded with saturated fat. And you know what that means: As your fantasies soar at the sight of Mel Gibson or Julia Roberts on the big screen, so does your cholesterol count.
The news has struck fear in the hearts -and arteries-of moviegoers, and sent theater chains scrambling to keep an estimated $550-million-a-year source of revenue from exploding in their faces.
''Popcorn is only as good as what you cook it in,'' says Jayne Hurley, author of CSPI's study. ''Theaters are using the worst possible oil. Coconut oil is twice as bad as lard in terms of raising cholesterol, and 70 percent of movie theaters pop in it.''
CSPI notes that a 16-cup, medium-size container of popcorn, cooked in coconut oil, and without topping, contains 901 calories and a whopping 60 grams of fat, 43 of them saturated. That's more than two days' worth of the recommended limit for artery-clogging saturated fat. Says Hurley, ''We are calling for theaters to offer air-popped corn. Until then, people should bring their own air-popped corn or other healthy snacks.''
Snack subterfuge? That's exactly how some professional filmgoers are responding to the crisis, including Entertainment Tonight's Leonard Maltin, who sneaks his own Life Savers into theaters. ''I'm just waiting for them to install candy detectors at the door,'' he says. As for Siskel & Ebert's Roger Ebert, he's still reeling from the report: ''I recently lost 60 pounds. Here I was eating a low-cal diet, and every time I went to the movies I was getting three days' worth of fat. Hey, people like the taste of coconut oil.''
That is the battle cry of theater operators. Cineplex Odeon has started handing out fliers to its customers with such headlines as ''Reality or Just Weird Science?'' Says Howard Lichtman, Cineplex's executive vice president for marketing, ''Coconut oil produces the best aroma and taste. It also pops more kernels and doesn't catch on fire as easily as other oils.''
Other chains have already seen the ''lite.'' In 1990, General Cinema switched to canola oil-which is lower in saturated fat. ''It is slightly more expensive,'' says General Cinema's director of corporate relations, Joanne Parker. ''That's really it. We haven't had any other problems.'' AMC and Loews say they intend to convert to canola oil; United Artists says it will offer air-popped corn as an alternative, beginning this month.
But chaning the oil- or using none at all-may overlook a still healthier solution. Says Alice Lichtenstein, a nutritional biochemist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, ''Americans could do something really radical when they go to the movies. They could simply not eat.'' Fat chance.
