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Food Safety: All About Foods
Olestra is a Safe Alternative to Fatty Foods
The Olympian, January 27, 1999
If the New Year means you've started on a diet, you've probably noticed a number of formerly high calorie snack foods on grocery store shelves that contain significantly fewer calories. Read the label carefully and you'll see they frequently contain ingredients called fat replacers.
In the last few years, advances in food technology have lead to development of a variety of new food products containing fat replacers. consumer driven demand for lower calorie foods is high. A 1996 study conducted by the Calorie Control Council in Atlanta found that 88% of adults reported consuming low-fat, reduced-fat, or fat-free foods and beverages. Therefore, an increasingly frequent goal of food companies has been to formulate and produce lower fat or fat free products without sacrificing the taste or sensory qualities of the food.
In a 1998 Scientific Status Summary from the Institute of Food Technologists, Barry G. Swanson - Professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Washington State University writes that "the ideal fat replacer would recreate all the attributes of fat, while also significantly reducing the fat and calorie content. Unfortunately, the ideal fat replacer does not exist."
QUESTION: What are fat replacers made of?
ANSWER: There are a number of traditionally techniques as well as manufactured ingredients used to replace fat in foods. Some food products are manufactured substituting water or air for fat. Lower fat foods frequently use skim milk to replace whole milk in product formulations. Fat in food products may also be replaced with a wide variety of lipid (fat), protein, or carbohydrate based on ingredients that attempt to mimic the flavor, function, and sensory qualities of fat in food products.
QUESTION: I've seen the term Olestra on snack food labels. Is it a fat replacer?
ANSWER: Yes. Olestra is a food ingredient that adds the flavor and texture of fats and oils to snack foods without adding any fat or calories. For example, a 1 ounce bag of potato chips normally has about 10 grams of fat - about 150 calories. IF the chips are made with Olestra, they contain 9 grams of fat or about 70 calories. Olestra is produced by proctor and Gamble and sold under the trade name Olean.
QUESTION: What is Olestra?
ANSWER: Olestra is manufactured by chemically combining vegetable oils like soybean or cottonseed oil with table sugar. They are linked in a way that the body is unable to break them into smaller units and convert them to energy.
QUESTION: How do we know that Olestra is safe to consume?
ANSWER: Numerous research studies were conducted with Olestra. The scientific experiments studied physiological and nutritional effects of Olestra. They were published in the Journal of Nutrition, August 1997. Reviewing the results, the FDA concluded that "Olestra is not toxic, carcinogenic, genotoxic, or teratogenic and that there is reasonable certainty that no harm will result from the use of Olestra in savory snacks."
B. Susie Craig
Area Faculty
WSU Cooperative Extension Thurston County
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