Olestra

Olestra (also known by its brand name Olean) is an artificial fat substance created by Procter & Gamble in 1968.

Commercialization

The Olean version of olestra 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 Olean 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:

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.^*

The warning was popularly misquoted as containing the phrase "anal leakage", which although not on the label, was indeed a problem with early formulations of olestra that were not marketed.

The FDA removed the warning requirement in 2003, stating that consumers were now aware of Olestra's "GI effects" and were confused in thinking that they would lose fat-soluble vitamins by eating Olestra products. ^*

This removal caused a new launch of products by Procter & Gamble, Frito Lay, and others. The new products were changed from the "WOW" label to "Lights."

Chemistry

Normal fats consist of a glycerol 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 has the same taste as fat, but since it does not contain glycerol, it has no calories or nutritive value, because it is indigestible.

Side effects

Since it contains fatty acid moieties, Olestra is able to dissolve lipid-soluble vitamins such as Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, and Vitamin A, along with carotenoids which are partially removed from foods consumed at the same time with Olestra. To counteract this, products made with Olestra are now fortified with oil soluble vitamins to compensate for these lost in fecal matter.

In addition, Olestra formulations have been known to cause diarrhea and anal leakage. When removing the Olestra warning label, the FDA cited a 6-week Procter & Gamble (makers of Olestra) study of more than 3000 people showing that an Olestra-eating group experienced only a minor increase in bowel movement frequency.^*

Sightings

In episode 3.02 “My Journey” of the television series Scrubs, J.D. mentions that his favorite chips apparently cause anal leakage.
In the Robin Williams comedy special “Live On Broadway”, Williams does a sketch about how Olestra causes anal leakage.
One episode of MADtv featured a sketch pushing the shows own brand of Olestra, which was now with “10% less anal leakage.”
In the Futurama episode, “Bendin' in the Wind” (3ACV13), Bender consumes a bag of chips cooked with Olestra and has a stomach ache, then proceeds to drop a load of bricks from his posterior.
In the romantic comedy movie The Sweetest Thing starring Cameron Diaz, Thomas Jane tells Jason Bateman's character that the potato chips he is eating causes anal leakage. Bateman then spits out the potato chips from his mouth while saying "What kind of marketing braniac puts anal leakage on his product? How can you even sell that crap?" after seeing that in fact it does say it causes anal leakage on the bag.
Cited by Tyler Durden in the movie Fight Club, in addition to other modern drugs including Viagra demonstrating the nation's movement to a synthetic revolution.
In Ray Romano's comedy special, "Live At Carnegie Hall", Romano references the fact that Olestra causes "anal leakage."
In The Simpsons episode "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses," Homer says, "Hey, Apu, you got any of those potato chips that give you diarrhea? I need to do a little spring cleaning," in reference to Olestra. Apu responds, "They are in the safety cabinet. I'll get the key."

Media

External links

Food additives | Procter & Gamble