Note: Research has shown only the extended inhalation of diacetyl vapors is connected with damage to the respiratory tract and lungs. Diacetyl formed naturally in the formation of beer, or consuming foods that contain the substance itself, has not been scientifically linked to specific symptoms. Even beer or popcorn with higher concentrations have failed to prove there is any direct danger in the consumption of diacetyl.
 
Possible Benefits
Scientists at the University of Rochester showed certain worms could be "chemically tricked" into preferring the smell of vegetables over diacetyl. Their goal is to understand gender differences in certain diseases such as autism and depression.
        Hundreds of experiments were performed in which worms were given forty-five minutes to crawl towards a specific scent, fresh vegetables or diacetyl. Worms have two genders, hermaphrodite and male, and it was determined hermaphrodites prefer the stronger diacetyl scent while the males more generally crawled towards the vegetable smell. The team then chemically altered the neurons in the hermaphrodites, essentially tricking the worm into believing it was a male, and it then chose the vegetable smell. This proved the behavior of nerve cells present in both sexes can be modified depending on the sexual status of a given organism. Autism is a disease that clearly affects more boys than girls while depression is just the opposite. They hope to understand how or why a difference in sex chromosomes results in a difference in how susceptible certain brain functions are to different disorders.
 
 
 
In the hope to better signal health problems such as cancer, Duke University scientists have suggested hyperpolarized diacetyl populations can help extend MRI signals.
        By adjusting the spins of nuclei, known as hyperpolarizing, molecules become more powerful magnets and create a much larger signal. These spin states do not last long, but by substituting the commonly found carbon-12s with carbon-13s, the signal can be extended. Hyperpolarized populations, locked within a specific form of diacetyl, can be temporarily isolated and transported through the bloodstream to a potential disease site in which heat could restore the molecules missing water, causing a clear signal whether there may or may not be a problem.
 
Carbon-13, having a net nuclear spin and emitting an NMR signal, is substituted for its isotope carbon-12 in a specific form of diacetyl in order to extend MRI signals.