Olestra is a fat substitute used in the cooking and preparation of foods, most commonly those foods normally containing high concentrations of fat. Potato chips were one of the first commercially available products to have it used in their preparation. The benefit is the extreme lowering or complete elimination of a traditionally fatty food's fat content. Originally developed by lipid chemist Fred Mattson, in his search for non-caloric substitutes for infant formulas.
Procter and Gamble had unsuccessfully applied to FDA many years ago for its use as a cholesterol-lowering drug. It was turned down for lack of effectiveness. I had been appointed to the committee in part due to the absence of any direct experience on my part with the development over the years. Whereas many people in the nutrition, diet-heart community had in one way or another been involved with the issue or in consultation to Procter and Gamble.
Delayed by an acute back sprain, I arrived on the second morning of the special committee meeting on Olestra and found Joan Gussow ill with the flu and in a feverish and irate state after a sleepless night.
It soon became clear to me why she was upset. As I listened to the last of the FDA staff presentations, which amounted to apologias, on the safety of olestra I too became exercised. This distinguished public health scientist sidled up to me in a most cordial fashion and asked me right off during the morning coffee break where I stood on approving Olestra.
He replied that on the contrary, he thought Olestra had been extensively tested and was a good idea to help deal with a mounting health problem of obesity in the American population.
Now I sensed something else. Indeed, the toxicology and first-round human studies reported by Procter and Gamble were well done. So what makes a molecule of olestra indigestible? If you have read How Fats Work , you know that a typical fat molecule is essentially three long molecules made of carbon and hydrogen hooked together see How Fats Work for details.
In olestra, there are six to eight chains instead of three. These extra chains make olestra's molecular structure much different from that of the typical fat molecule. The reason that your body cannot digest olestra is similar to the reason that your body cannot digest wood see How Food Works for details. A cellulose molecule is too long for your stomach to process because your stomach lacks the right enzymes to handle it.
Olestra is the same way. Olestra simply passes through your stomach and intestines unchanged. Olestra chips have calories from the potatoes, corn or other foods they contain, but no calories from the olestra unlike a normal chip that contains 9 calories for every gram of fat.
Here are the nutrition labels from a bag of regular full-fat potato chips and from a bag of chips made with olestra:. Many scientists and doctors are worried about whether olestra is safe for people to consume. One big fear is that eating olestra may lead to nutritional deficiencies. Fats normally bind to the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K in your intestines, and when your body absorbs the fat, these essential vitamins come along for the ride.
Patients with high levels of PCBs polychlorinated biphenyls , a man-made chemical and known carcinogen, were fed either regular Pringles or those containing Olestra. After a year, concentrations of PCBs in the body decreased significantly faster for the Olestra group than they had the year before—an increase eight times greater than the control group, who ate regular Pringles. Then those molecules leave the body.
Unfortunately, as many consumers still remember, they sometimes leave rather explosively. By providing your email, you agree to the Quartz Privacy Policy.
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