Toxic Food Additives: Part VII- Olestra

Introduction

Olestra (also known by its brand name Olean), created by Procter & Gamble in 1968 is a fat substitute that adds no fat, calories or cholesterol to products. Olestra was approved by the FDA for use as a food additive in 1996. It was first used in potato chips under the WOW brand by Frito Lay.

All the food products containing Olestra have the compulsion to include this label on their packets:

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.

 (Taken from Wikipedia)

 
Synthesis and chemistry

Olestra is synthesized using a sucrose molecule, which can support from six to eight fatty acid chains arranged radially like an octopus. It is too large to move through the intestinal wall and really difficult to get absorbed. Olestra has the same taste as fat. But since it does not contain glycerol and the fatty acid tails can not be removed from the sucrose molecule for digestion, it passes through the digestive system without being absorbed and adds no calories or nutritive value to the diet.

Olestra contains fatty acid functional groups. It is able to dissolve lipid-soluble vitamins such as vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K, and vitamin A, along with carotenoids. Fat soluble nutrients consumed along with Olestra products are excreted along with the undigested Olestra molecules. To prevent this loss of nutrients, products made with Olestra are fortified with fat soluble vitamins.

Here is a beautiful links showing 3-dimensional molecule of olestra:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Olestra_stereo_animation.gif

A short flow chart showing development of olestra is given below:

 (Taken from http://www.chemcases.com/olestra/index.htm)

Toxic Effects

Olestra begets the following toxic effects in body, when consumed in excess:

1) It causes abdominal cramps and even diarrhoea.

2) It may cause pulmonary, prostrate cancers or even Cardiac attacks.

3) It causes macular degeneration and may lead to blindness.

4) It inhibits the absorption of vitamins and carotenoids.

Consuming a moderate amount of Olestra daily leads to reductions in serum caretenoid levels by as much as 10%. This, in turn, could lead to extra deaths and diseases each year. There are strong links between a decrease in specific caretenoids and the onset of certain diseases.

For example, a reduction in the caretenoids lutein and zeaxanthin could lead to a greater likelihood of age related macular degeneration, a visual disorder; Or a drop in lycopene could lead to more prostate cancer (as significance of lycopene has benn demonstrated in one of the previous blogs). On the other hand, recent studies have confirmed that popular catenoids such as beta carotene can actually dramatically increase the incidence of lung cancer in smokers.

Here is a link which gives a list of few items containing Olestra:

http://www.cspinet.org/olestra/brands.html

Reference Links:

1) http://www.cspinet.org/nah/marolest.htm

2) http://www.cspinet.org/olestra/11cons.html

3) http://www.betterbodz.com/library/olestra.html

4) http://www.chemcases.com/olestra/index.htm

5) http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/hhsolest.html

6) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olestra