Olestra debate resurfaces as FDA confirms the sucrose polyester is safe

One of the noisiest food fights in the US flared up again last week, as the Food and Drug Administration took another look at olestra--the controversial fake fat that promises Americans a nirvana of guilt-free gluttony. Approved in 1996, olestra is available in Wow! potato chips and fat-free Pringles, with more products on the way. But as fans and opponents alike acknowledge, olestra chips have side effects, including nutrient losses and digestive upsets. So the FDA asked Procter &Gamble, olestra's maker, to come back with further studies after the chips had been test-marketed. Reviewing the new studies last week, the FDA declared olestra safe--but its critics remain unconvinced. If you're dieting, if you live on junk food or if your family simply enjoys potato chips, you've now got a trickier decision to make than ruffles or plain.

Olestra, or sucrose polyester, is a fat assembled from natural sources that has been chemically processed to make it indigestible. Because olestra passes right out of the body, foods made with olestra derive none of their calories from fat. A one-ounce serving of olestra potato chips, for instance, is fat-free and has 75 calories, all from the potatoes. (An ounce of regular chips has 10 grams of fat and 150 calories.) So far, pretty tempting.

But olestra is fat, if a weird form of it. As it moves through the gut, it attracts fat-soluble nutrients and carries them out of the body. Those nutrients include vitamins A, D, E and K and some carotenoids, which are substances found in fruits and vegetables that help protect against heart disease and many cancers. Olestra chips are fortified with the four vitamins to make up for the depletion--but the lost carotenoids are not replaced. P&G says, and the FDA agrees, that there is no scientific consensus yet on the exact role of carotenoids or the levels necessary for good health.