They’ve finally done it: fat-free fat.
With the Food and Drug Administration’s Jan. 24 approval of
olestra, a fat substitute
developed by Procter & Gamble, for use in certain snack
foods, the door has been
opened to what some dieters may call the impossible dream.
Good old fried snack foods — potato chips, crackers,
tortilla chips and others — with
"zero fats" on the label?
Olestra is, in essence, fat-free fat to our bodies, said
Elizabeth Andress, a food
safety specialist with the University of Georgia Extension
Service.
"It’s the first fat substitute we can use in fried
foods," Andress said.
"Other fat substitutes can’t withstand the cooking
temperatures natural fats do. But
olestra actually is a natural fat — it’s been altered so we
don’t digest it."
So you can have your fatty foods and eat them, too. A typical
snack food with 10 grams
of fat and 150 calories per serving, Andress said, can now have
zero grams of fat and only
about 70 calories.
The fat-based substitute offers a better "mouth
feel," as it is known in the
industry — the look and feel of foods containing real, natural
fats.
But this wonderful, dream-come-true story isn’t all champagne
and confetti. Olestra
does have its drawbacks, as pointed out in the FDA approval,
which requires that four
essential vitamins be added to it and a warning label placed on
all products made with it.
"It has long been known that olestra can cause cramping
and loose stools,"
Andress said, referring to a decade of studies on the product.
"A bigger concern is
that olestra inhibits absorption of fat-soluble
vitamins."
The problem with a fat you can’t digest, she said, is that
natural fats have some
useful roles in the diet. They carry vitamins A, D, E and K, for
instance, and aid in
their absorption in the intestine.
FDA evaluated more than 150,000 pages of data from more than
150 studies Procter &
Gamble provided in its original 1987 food additive petition and
in amendments filed since
then.
Studies showed olestra "may cause intestinal cramps and
loose stools in some
individuals," the agency noted. "These
gastrointestinal effects do not have
medical consequences."
Other studies showed that the vitamin-inhibiting effect could
be compensated for by
replacing the essential nutrients in olestra-containing snacks.
While ruling the fake fat safe to use in certain snacks, FDA
required the following
label on all products made with it: "This Product Contains
Olestra. Olestra may cause
abdominal cramping and loose stools. Olestra inhibits the
absorption of some vitamins and
other nutrients. Vitamins A, D, E and K have been
added."
Andress said olestra inhibits absorption of some carotenoids,
too. The role of these
nutrients, found in carrots, sweet potatoes, green leaf
vegetables and some animal tissue,
isn’t fully understood, but they’re known to be beneficial to
human health.
"I don’t think olestra offers a real health concern for
consumers," Andress
said. "People just need to be aware of the label and the
potential problems."
People need to remember, too, that fat-free doesn’t
necessarily mean calorie-free.
"Don’t be fooled into thinking you can eat all you want
just because it’s fat-free
or low-fat," she said. "There are still calories in
these products, and there
are still potential problems associated with
overconsumption."
