Olestra: A Solution to Food Fat?

Abstract

Olestra is a sucrose polyester, the first fat substitute that replaces many of the uses of dietary fat such as in dough conditioning, in sprays, in filling ingredients, in flavors, as well as in frying. However, it is not absorbed in the human digestive system, and therefore, it does not provide any nutrition or energy. It has taste and cooking properties similar to the conventional fats and oils. FDA approved the use of olestra only in limited and specific foods with a listing of fat soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, and K) in the ingredient statement of olestra-containing foods followed by an asterisk that is linked to the statement “Dietarily insignificant.” This article reviews the physiological, nutritional, health, and environmental effects of the human consumption of olestra.

Keywords:

• Olestra
• Gastrointestinal symptoms
• Triglycerides
• Vitamins
• Safety
• FDA

Notes

21. US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Department of health and human services, 21 CFR, part 172, Food additives permitted for direct addition to food for human consumption: olestra, USFDA: Washington, D.C., 2003

37. Final report: Assessment of the dose response effect of olestra on the status of fat-soluble vitamins and other marker nutrients in humans. Submitted by P&G to FDA on January 29 1993; (An eight-week vitamin restoration study in humans consuming olestra, submitted by P&G to the FDA on June 2, 1993)

56. The 56-day clinical dose response (DR) study. Food Additive Petition (7A 3997) submitted by Procter and Gamble, January 29, 1993, Vol 185–191