Word: olestra
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...Olestra, however, could make guilt-free eating a pleasure. It doesn't just substitute for fat. It is fat, with all the flavor-enhancing, palate-soothing smoothness of corn or canola oil. And unlike any of the half a dozen or so fat substitutes currently available, olestra doesn't break down when it's used for frying. That means fat-free potato chips, French fries and maybe even Cajun feasts that taste like the real thing could someday be available to the general public...
They could become available, that is, if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration lets Procter & Gamble put products cooked with olestra on the market. This month, after decades of study and deliberation, that decision should finally come down. Last spring a group of senior FDA scientists concluded that olestra could safely be used in chips and other nonsweet snacks. In November, after four exhaustive days of meetings, most members of an FDA-appointed food advisory committee agreed...
...there's just one more hurdle: FDA commissioner David Kessler has to give final approval before olestra-based snacks can be sold to the public. But while commissioners almost always go along with their scientists' and advisory committees' recommendations, Kessler is weighing this one with special care. Olestra could become a staple in the diets of tens of millions of Americans, so it's crucial that it be safe. Moreover, nearly a third of all Americans are obese, and the combination of high-fat diets and extra weight contributes to heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and several types...
...financial stakes are enormous as well. P&G has already invested $200 million in developing, studying and testing olestra. If the FDA approves, the company plans to use the fat in its own chips and snacks under the trade name Olean and sell it to other food producers as well. The annual market for all these olestra products could be worth $1 billion within 10 years...
...olestra isn't totally benign. It can trigger intestinal cramping, flatulence and loose bowels. It keeps the body from absorbing some carotenoids, nutrients that may lower the risk of cancer and heart disease. In its original formulation, it also reduced the absorption of vitamins A, D, E and K and caused a condition delicately referred to as "anal leakage." And while most other artificial food additives are eaten by the milligram, olestra would be gulped grams at a time, making it what nutritionists call a "macroingredient"--it would, for example, account for about one-third, by weight, of every potato...