Is Popcorn Easy or Hard to Digest?
Updated on August 6, 2025
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After eating any food, your digestive system breaks it down into nutrients that your entire body uses. Then it passes the rest. While some foods are easy to digest, others are more challenging.
One food that tends to raise questions is popcorn. Is it good or bad for your digestive system?
Popcorn (both popped and unpopped) is a whole grain with a lot of vitamins, nutrients, and fiber. While a great snack, its high fiber content can be a problem for those with underlying digestive issues. Not to mention when you throw butter, oil, salt, and other toppings on it — delicious, but not as nutritious.
Here, learn the benefits and downsides of eating this classic movie theater snack, and whether it's easy or hard to digest.
How Digestible Is Popcorn?
Popcorn is easy to digest. Corn has a reputation for passing easily through the gut, whether in whole kernel or popped form. Corn kernels are actually seeds with tough outer shells, which means they may not fully break down in your digestive system.
For this reason, you may occasionally see some whole kernels or kernel pieces in your stool.
How long does popcorn take to digest?
Popcorn may take longer to digest than other foods because it's a complex carbohydrate and high in fiber. Simple carbs like sugar, pasta, and white bread digest quickly, while complex carbs pass a little more slowly.
In general, food can stay in your stomach for between 40 and 120 minutes (or more) and then spend another 40 to 120 minutes in the small intestine. This means it could take several hours for popcorn to get to your large intestine. Generally, food takes about 18 to 24 hours to leave your digestive system as stool.
What happens if you swallow a popcorn kernel whole?
While it's not dangerous to accidentally swallow a few unpopped kernels, you shouldn't purposely swallow or chew unpopped kernels, as the crunching can damage your teeth.
Plus, if you swallow them, large amounts could theoretically build up in your intestines and form a mass called a bezoar (although this would be very rare). This would require medical treatment to remove.
Air-Popped Popcorn Nutrition Facts
One cup of air-popped popcorn with no added butter provides the following:
- Calories: 30.8 kcal
- Carbohydrates: 6.2 grams (g)
- Fiber: 1.15 g
- Fat: 0.362 g
- Protein: 1.03 g
- Sodium: 13 milligrams (mg)
- Total sugars: 0.07 g
Of course, these nutrition facts will change if you add butter, salt, oil, or other toppings to your popcorn. If you're making it at home, try using olive oil for its healthy fats and add sea salt sparingly.
The Benefits of Eating Popcorn
Despite the reputation movie theater popcorn has for being unhealthy due to its high content of butter, salt, toppings, and additives, popcorn itself is a nutritious choice. Here's a breakdown of some of the benefits.
Good source of fiber
High-fiber foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains (including popcorn), can provide both soluble and insoluble fiber. Both are important for gut health.
Popcorn has 1.15 g of fiber in a one-cup serving. Most of which is insoluble — the type that is never fully digested. Instead, it draws water to the bowels, bulking up your stool and allowing it to pass quickly.
That means if you're struggling to "go," eating a few cups of popcorn per day could help you improve your daily fiber intake and help reduce your constipation as part of a fiber-rich and overall nutritious diet.
What's more, eating whole grains that provide plenty of fiber has links to a reduced risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension. Fiber can also help stabilize blood sugar levels.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that for every 1,000 kcal you consume, you should be getting 14 g fiber. For adults over 18 years old, the daily requirement come between 28 and 34 g fiber, depending on your age and sex.
If you're not used to a lot of fiber, gradually increase the amount you eat over a few weeks to prevent negative side effects like gas and constipation.
Good source of vitamins and minerals
Popcorn is an excellent source of minerals, including magnesium, manganese, and phosphorus, as well as a good source of iron, zinc, copper, and potassium. As examples of the benefits getting enough of these minerals can provides, magnesium is vital for regulating muscle and nerve function, blood glucose and pressure levels, and protein, bone, and DNA production, and phosphorus supports healthy bones, blood vessels, and muscles.
Popcorn also provides plenty of B vitamins, including B3, B5, folate, and pantothenic acid. B vitamins support chemical reactions in vital processes right across the body, including vital functions within the brain and nervous system.
Good for weight loss
Popcorn is a low-calorie food, making it a good snack choice for those trying to lose weight. And because of its fiber content, it can make you feel fuller for longer, helping you stay satiated between meals.
Is Popcorn Bad for Your Digestive System?
Popcorn is nutritious, low-calorie, and low in fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols (FODMAPs), which may make it beneficial for individuals with certain digestive conditions. However, people with the following conditions may want to avoid popcorn.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease
If you have an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, you may have symptoms like abdominal pain, diarrhea, and bloody stools. Popcorn and other sources of fiber may worsen your symptoms, although not everyone experiences this effect.
Conditions like Crohn's disease, for example, may worsen when you eat too much fiber. A doctor might recommend a low-fiber diet to reduce your risk of a blocked intestine if parts of your bowel have narrowed.
Diarrhea
If you are experiencing diarrhea, you may want to temporarily avoid popcorn. High-fiber foods like popcorn may increase the number of times you poop, which isn’t helpful when you’re already going more than usual.
What About Diverticulitis?
A condition called diverticulosis occurs when you develop small, bulging pouches inside the intestines. When these pouches develop inflammation, it might become diverticulitis, which requires medical treatment.
At one time, experts thought popcorn (along with nuts and seeds) caused inflammation and worsened diverticulitis by getting stuck in the diverticula. However, no evidence supports excluding these foods from the diets of individuals with diverticulosis.
In fact, a review found that a high intake of fiber was associated with a decreased risk of diverticulitis.
The Takeaway
- For most people, popcorn (without added ingredients such as butter and other toppings) can be a healthy, low-calorie snack that supports digestive health due to its whole grain and fiber content.
- Popcorn is generally easy to digest, but its high fiber content may cause issues for some individuals with underlying digestive conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease.
- While previous advice suggested avoiding popcorn if you have diverticulosis, current evidence does not support this, and it even indicates that fiber-rich foods may help prevent complications.
- If you experience digestive problems, such as diarrhea, temporarily avoiding popcorn may help control symptoms. However, it's best to consult with a doctor about persistent or severe digestive issues.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
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- Low FODMAP Diet. Cleveland Clinic. February 24, 2022.
- Dietary fibre is good for you, except when it’s not. University of Alberta. October 13, 2022.
- Crohn’s disease - Diagnosis & Treatment. Mayo Clinic. October 29, 2024.
- Low Fiber Diet for Diarrhea. Oncolink. May 21, 2025.
- Diverticular Disease. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders. August 2021.
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- Carabotti M et al. Role of Dietary Habits in the Prevention of Diverticular Disease Complications: A Systematic Review. MDPI Nutrients. April 14, 2021.
Meet Our Experts
Yuying Luo, MD
Medical Reviewer
Yuying Luo, MD, is an assistant professor of medicine at Mount Sinai West and Morningside in New York City. She aims to deliver evidence-based, patient-centered, and holistic care for her patients.
Her clinical and research focus includes patients with disorders of gut-brain interaction such as irritable bowel syndrome and functional dyspepsia; patients with lower gastrointestinal motility (constipation) disorders and defecatory and anorectal disorders (such as dyssynergic defecation); and women’s gastrointestinal health.
She graduated from Harvard with a bachelor's degree in molecular and cellular biology and received her MD from the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. She completed her residency in internal medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she was also chief resident. She completed her gastroenterology fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital and was also chief fellow.
Allison Forsyth
Author
Allison is a health editor and writer who has been featured in Well+Good, Sarasota Magazine, and other wellness publications. She specializes in reproductive health, mental health, interpersonal wellness, fitness, and nutrition topics.