Olestra (also known by its brand name Olean) is an artificial fat substance created by Procter & Gamble in 1968. It was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as a food additive in 1996 and was initially used in potato chips under the WOW brand by Frito Lay. In 1998, which was the first year Olestra products were marketed nationally, sales were over $400 million. However, by 2000 sales slowed to $200 million, largely caused by the unappealing health warning label, which was mandated by the FDA.

Chemistry of Olestra

Normal fats consist of a triglyceride molecule with three fatty acid tails attached. However, Olestra is synthesized using a sucrose molecule, which can support up to eight fatty acid tails, too large to be digested in the intestine. Olestra passes through undigested and therefore contains no digestible calories.

Side effects

Since it contains fatty acid tails, Olestra is able to pick up fat soluble vitamins such as A, D, E, and K along with carotenoids, which are all removed from the body along with the Olestra. To counteract this, products made with Olestra are fortified with vitamins and carotenoids to compensate for those lost in fecal matter.

In addition, Olestra has been known to cause diarrhea and anal leakage. This was caused by the fat separating out in the intestine. Modifications to the formulation seem to have largely removed this effect- no greater effects are now seen than with ordinary potato chips.

On the positive side, it has been shown that consumption of Olestra greatly increases the rate (more than 10x faster) that fat soluble trace poisons such as dioxins and PCBs can be removed from the body, and Olestra does not promote weight gain.

Sightings

• In episode 3.02 "My Journey" of the television serial Scrubs, J.D. mentions that his favorite chips apparently cause anal leakage.

External links

• Official website
• History of Olestra