p popcorn: health.

Green apple? Chocolate-fudge brownie? Jalapeno? Whatever the flavor, Americans love popcorn. Just ask Kent Lundquist, director of consumer marketing for the American Pop Corn Company. "The average American eats 59 quarts of popcorn per year," says Lundquist. Having trouble visualizing that much popcorn? It's like filling 17 one-gallon milk containers with the starchy snack!

What makes the fluffy kernels so popular? It's not just the taste. Popcorn is also good for you. Consider this: "A three-cup serving of plain, unbuttered popcorn has only 80 calories and two to three grams of fat," says Jeannette Jordan, a registered dietitian based in Charleston, South Carolina, and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. But how does popcorn stack up once flavoring is added? "When lightly buttered, three cups of popcorn have only about 110 calories and five grams of fat," says Jordan. Americans' favorite flavors? Butter, followed by caramel and then cheese popcorn.

Check out the graph (right) to find out how many pounds of unpopped kernels the popcorn industry sells each year. In which year were sales highest? What might explain the increase hi popcorn sales since 1972?

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