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A
bout 100 years ago, the
first shot in the lower-fat,
lower-calorie war was
fired.
The clamor heard was the food
industry responding to the con-
sumers' craving for sweets but
wanting to limit the number of
calories that normally were found
in sugar. Knowing well the foibles
of the American population, in-
dustrial scientists left the possi-
bility of modifying eating habits
to the psychologists, and focused
their explorations on artificial
sweeteners, creating saccharin.
The war against calories, al-
ways smoldering, has erupted
again. For the 1990s, the enemy
is fat. And to answer the call to
arms, the food industry is counter-
attacking with new food products
that imitate the texture and cook-
ing characteristics of fat without
the calories naturally found in fat.
Olestra, a nonabsorbable fatty
material discovered by Proctor &
Gamble, was approved by the
Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) this January for use in cer-
tain snack foods.
Proctor & Gamble spent over
$200 million testing olestra, sub-
mitting more than 150,000 pages
of scientific data making it the
most studied food additive in his-
tory, reports the March 1996 is-
sue of Tufts University Diet & Nu-
trition Letter.
But the fake fat was in the fire
because of safety factors and an-
swers to questions that are still
unknown. Much of the concern re-
volves around the issue that
olestra scoops up the fat-soluble
vitamins plus the fact that it also
attracts beta-carotene and other
carotenoids. Carotenoids are
found in fruits and vegetables and
associated with lower risk of can-
cer but their exact role in health
isn't fully understood. Like the
fat-soluble vitamins, those com-
pounds cling to olestra as it moves
through the body and is excreted.
Critics charge that olestra con-
sumption may lead to deficiencies
of carotenoids over time and re-
sult in certain chronic disease
such as the eye condition called
age-related macular degenera-
tion.
There are other weighty prob-
lems with olestra.
"Olestra may cause abdominal
cramping and loose stools in some
individuals, and inhibits the
body's absorption of certain fat-
soluble vitamins and nutrients,"
said FDA Commissioner Dr.
David A. Kessler. The FDA is re-
quiring Proctor & Gamble and
other manufacturers who use
olestra to label all foods made
with it, and, to protect the pub-
lic health, to add essential vita-
mins - vitamins A, D, E and K to
olestra. That way when it goes
through the intestine, it will be so
overloaded with the nutrients
that it can't carry any more, and
the olestra consumer won't lose
the vitamins.
The FDA required label reads:
"This Product Contains Olestra.
Olestra
may
Fat substitutes
cause abdominal taste
like the real
cramping and thing while cutting
loose stools.
out the dietary
Olestra inhibits caloric cost. But,
the absorption of there may be a
some vitamins greater price to
and other nutri- pay healthwise.
ents. Vitamins
A,D,E and K have been added."
As a condition of approval, the
company also is conducting stud-
ies to monitor current consump-
tion as well as studies on olestra's
long-term effects. The FDA will
review these studies in public by
June 1998.
Proctor & Gamble responded
to these problems by stating that
the gastrointestinal reactions
won't be a problem because peo-
ple who have them will stop eat-
ing the food products that contain
As the battle of the bulge rages on,
new fat substitutes crowd the
market. Are they friend or foe?
RUTHAN BRODSKY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
olestra. And while it has added
fat-soluble vitamins to olestra, the
company has not committed to re-
placing carotenoids until after the
monitoring of olestra consump-
tion levels and additional studies
about olestra's effects on the ab-
sorption of carotenoids.
proved fat substitute. Test mar-
kets in three cities (Cedar Rapids,
Iowa; Grand Junction, Col.; and
Eau Clair, Wisc.) will help the
company determine the consumer
interest in these products —
called the "Max" product line —
and incorporate the Lay's, Ruf-
fles, Doritos and Tostitos logos on
he promise of olestra is that the packages. For instance, a one-
it will help people lose ounce sewing of Lay's Max Pota-
weight. Many people have to Chips is fat free with only 75
their doubts.
calories compared to a one-ounce
"Fat substitutes are usually a serving of regular potato chips
short-term fix to losing weight with 10 grams of fat and 150 calo-
and not a good alternative to a ries.
lifestyle change," says Marty
"The reports indicate that
Roney, registered dietitian at among the people who tested an
Hutzel Hospital, Detroit Medical olestra product in moderate
Center. "Studies show that peo- amounts, there were small
ple lose weight when they switch amounts of diarrhea and abdom-
to a low fat diet over time. Grad- inal cramping," reports Dr. Alan
ually they prefer lower-fat foods Cutler, director of Gastrointesti-
and what used to be fatty and nal Research at Sinai Hospital.
pleasant becomes greasy and "It's estimated that between 5 and
gross.
10 percent of the people who use
"When someone eats food with sugar substitutes have minor gas-
fat substitutes, they're still keep- trointestinal problems. I usually
ing their taste for fatty foods," she tell them to stop drinking diet
said.
soda or eating diet candy."
Sold under the trade name
"Now the preliminary figures
Olean, olestra made a product de- for olestra show that somewhere
but when the Frito-Lay Compa- between 25 to 30 percent of the
ny announced in April the test population will show some olestra
market introduction of a line of intolerance. That's going to be a
low and no fat, calorie-reduced
snacks made with the newly ap- FAT WAR page 74
T