Introduction

Imagine eating all the junk food you can eat and never taking in a single gram of fat. In 1996, after 25 years of research costing over $200 million, Olestra received FDA approval for use in commercial products.

How It Works

Olestra was designed by Procter & Gamble to look, taste, and even cook like normal fat and yet be completely indigestible by the body. Natural fats are digested by first being emulsified with bile salts in the duodenum. Bile salts, secreted by the gall bladder, are hydrophobic on one side and hydrophilic on the other. This property allows them to pull a single fat molecule away from the rest, which increases their surface area and allows them to be broken down by pancreatic lipases. These lipases break the fats at their ester bonds to produce fatty acids and glycerol, which can then be broken down by the body for energy or stored in adipose tissue.

Olestra is structured so that the ester links cannot be reached by lipases. The octaoleate ester utilizes eight fatty acids to guard the ester links deep in the center of the molecule. Since the lipases cannot clip the fully esterized fatty acids from the central sucrose structure, the digestive system is unable to break down and utilize the fat and it passes through the body unchanged.

Problems

Many problems have arisen from the use of Olestra. Any hydrophobic molecules ingested tend to be absorbed by Olestra and carried out of the body by the indigestible fat. Such molecules include Vitamins A, D, E, and K, as well as many carotenoids. These molecules are vital to the body in many functions including the oxidation of harmful radicals, the prevention of depression, and perhaps even the prevention of cancer.

The FDA has approved Olestra for use in junk foods only. FDA officials fear that overuse of the natural fat substitute would deplete people’s intake of fat, which is vital to the body. Fat is not only used as an energy source, but is crucial to the functioning of the nervous and immune systems. A large amount of Procter & Gamble’s research went into the prevention of "anal leakage." The ingestion of Olestra tends to cause diarrhea and bloating. Although the final version of the product has reduced its side effects, many individuals, especially those with gastrointestinal disorders, may have severe reactions to Olestra.

The brand name for Olestra is Olean®. It is currently used in Frito Lay’s Max potato chips labeled "Wow," and Procter & Gamble is making a version of Pringles containing the fat substitute.

Olestra Web Site Links

Fat Substitutes - The great Olestra blunder: How did it happen?

Salatrim - Another fat substitute

The Skinny on Olestra

Okanagan University College - Molecular fragments: Olestra.

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