Olestra: Is it really that bad?By Sarah Gaynor

Yes.

What is Olestra?

Normal fats are three fatty acids bonded to a glycerol molecule. Olestra uses a sucrose (sugar) molecule joined at esters to six to eight fatty acids, instead. It tastes and feels like a fat, but our bodies don’t even know where to begin to digest it.

Background

• P&G wanted a fat-reducing drug in 1975

• Couldn’t show efficiency, so used as a food additive

• Brand name: Olean• Approved in 1996 – Only by the US• Lay’s WOW in 1998• Label removed in 2003 – WOW

discontinued, Lay’s Light begun• Other companies dropped olestra line

of chips

Products

• Lay's Light Original • Lay's Light KC Masterpiece BBQ • Doritos Light Nacho Cheese • Ruffles Light Original • Ruffles Light Cheddar & Sour Cream • Tostitos Light Restaurant Style • Fat-Free Pringles • Fat-Free Bar-B-Q Pringles • Fat-Free Sour Cream and Onion Pringles

Concerns: Vitamins

• Warning label: “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.”

• Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble

• Olestra carries them away• Chips fortified with vitamins

Concerns: Carotenoids

• Organic pigments

• Found in fruits, vegetables like carrots, palm oil

• May lower risk of blindness, heart disease, cancer

• Like the vitamins, fat-soluble

Concerns: “Abdominal cramping and loose stools”

• Biggest problem

• Eight-week studies (17 test subjects):– 8 g (16 chips) a day increased diarrhea

by a factor of 5– 32 g (about 3 oz of chips) gave half the

subjects diarrhea– 8 g: gastrointestinal symptoms such as

diarrhea, loose stools, nausea, and gas increased by 65%

– 20 g was enough to double incidents– Intermittent symptoms lasted 40 days

• Testimonials– http://www.zug.com/pranks/olestra/

Procter and Gamble’s stance• Reduce consumption of fats• Eat as much as you want• “Olean is a replacement for fat, not

for common sense.”• Gastrointestinal effects are similar

to that of a high-fiber diet• “The added vitamins have no

impact on the body’s vitamin levels regardless of how much or how often Olean snacks are eaten.”

–Olean website

Complaints

• More than 20,000 complaints• More complaints after label

removal, name change, removal of Olean label, too

• Some consumers went to hospital

• Frito-Lay being sued by Massachusetts woman

• Backed by nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)

Is P&G trustworthy?

• Actonel, a drug for osteoperosis (Britain)

• Dr Aubrey Blumsohn at Sheffield University

• Ghost writer, no access to data

• Finally gained access—results framed poorly and innaccurately

• No action from university; suspended for talking to media

Conclusion

Believe what you want to believe, but I won’t be eating Lay’s Light anytime soon…

Referenceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olestra - olestra infohttp://www.cspinet.org/olestra/OLES-M.AVI - anti-olestra commercialhttp://www.cspinet.org/olestra/ - anti-olestra sitehttp://health.howstuffworks.com/question526.htm - how olestra workshttp://health.howstuffworks.com/fat.htm - how fat workshttp://www.olean.com/ - main sitehttp://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1657302,00.html – legal bithttp://www.thes.co.uk/search/story.aspx?story_id=2026307 – recent news on legal bithttp://scientific-misconduct.blogspot.com/search?q=proctor+%26+gamble – legal bit centralhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d9/Olestra_stereo_animation.gif - molecule gifhttp://www.zug.com/pranks/olestra/ --eeew....http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/lax/182862349.html -- also very grosshttp://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/NEW00524.html - being approvedhttp://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/2003/ANS01245.html - changing the labelhttp://cspinet.org/new/200601041.html - Getting suedhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat - fat infohttp://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2000/06/23/oleanproducts.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2000/06/23/fin_canadian_ban_adds_to.html&h=373&w=600&sz=85&hl=en&start=6&tbnid=FtEqjJTzuA8ToM:&tbnh=84&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dolestra%2Bproduct%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den – News article on falling sales in 2000http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carotenoid - carotenoidshttp://www.becomehealthynow.com/article/fats/156/ - problems with olestra