Olestra

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A ball and stick model of Olestra, showing a central sucrose molecule with ester-linked fatty acids

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

1 Commercialization
2 Chemistry
3 Side effects
4 In popular culture
5 Media
6 Footnotes
7 External links

[edit] Commercialization

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 Olestra 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.^[1]

This condition became popularly known as "anal leakage", though those words never actually appeared on the label.

The FDA removed the warning requirement in 2003, alleging that consumers no longer needed protection because that by now they were aware of Olestra's "GI effects" and may be misled into thinking that Olestra causes the loss of fat-soluble vitamins.^[2]

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

[edit] 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 chains arranged radially like an octopus, and is too large to move through the intestinal wall. Olestra has the same taste and mouthfeel 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.

[edit] 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. Fat soluble nutrients consumed along with Olestra products are excreted along with the undigested Olestra molecules. To counteract this loss of nutrient, products made with Olestra are now fortified with oil soluble vitamins to compensate for this loss to 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 small increase in bowel movement frequency.^[3]

[edit] In popular culture

One episode of MADtv featured a Parody advertisement for Olestra - now with “10% less anal leakage.”
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.
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 buttocks.
In the movie The Sweetest Thing, Thomas Jane tells Jason Bateman's character that the potato chips he is eating cause bright orange anal leakage. Bateman then spits out the food while exclaiming "What kind of marketing braniac puts anal leakage on his product? How can you even sell that crap?".
Cited by Tyler Durden in the movie Fight Club, in addition to other chemicals demonstrating the nation's movement to a synthetic revolution.
In Ray Romano's comedy special, "Live At Carnegie Hall", Romano jokes about Olestra and 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". Apu responds, "They are in the safety cabinet. I'll get the key."
A humorous article on the effect of Olestra appeared on Craigslist's "Best of" entitled "Do not eat Pringles fat free potato chips"^[4]