People often crave fat-filled foods such as potato chips, corn chips and other snacks that combine salt, sugar and fat. Olestra, a calorie-free fat substitute created by Proctor and Gamble, allows you to eat what the company calls "savory snacks" with a reduced-calorie and fat count -- but this largess comes with a price, as well as some annoying side effects. Olestra can interfere with vitamin absorption and also causes gas, bloating and diarrhea in many people.
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Olestra is actually a sugar, a sucrose molecule that has been modified by adding fatty acids to its chemical composition. Fats normally contain three hydrocarbon chains, which is why they're called triglycerides. Olestra has eight hydrocarbon chains. Lipase, an enzyme that normally removes the hydrocarbon chains so your body can break them down, can't do this with Olestra, due to the large number of hydrocarbons. The molecules of the modified product are too large to be absorbed by the body, so Olestra passes through the intestine without being absorbed. Olestra removes vitamins and other substances it absorbs as it exits the body.
Types of Vitamins
Olestra affects the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, which include vitamin A, D, E and K. Fat-soluble vitamins dissolve in fat and absorb with fat into the circulation for use by the body. If you don't consume adequate fat, your body can't absorb fat-soluble vitamins. Olestra, because it has properties of fats, does absorb fat-soluble vitamins. Because Olestra passes undigested from the body as do the fat-soluble vitamins it absorbs.
Solutions
The Proctor and Gamble Company published an article in the August 1997 "Journal of Nutrition" on the effects of adding fat-soluble vitamins A, D and E to Olestra. The study tested the serum levels of vitamins D and E after the addition of the vitamins to Olestra and found that the addition raised serum levels to normal limits.
Caveats
If you suffer from malabsorption disorders that interfere with nutrient absorption, ask your doctor before consuming foods that contain Olestra. Since Olestra remains in the digestive tract for approximately two hours after ingestion, according to Kennesaw State University, do not consume it within two hours of meals containing fat-soluble vitamins. In addition to decrease fat-soluble vitamin absorption, Olestra can also cause unpleasant GI side effects such as abdominal cramping, flatulence and diarrhea. Such effects may be dose-dependent; the more you eat, the worse the side effects may be.
References
- Washington University in St. Louis; Olestra and Vitamin Solubility; Matt Traverso; 2004
- Center for Science in the Public Interest: A Brief History of Olestra
- Kennesaw State University: Olestra 11. Testing for Solubility of Vitamins and other Lipophilic Substances
- "Journal of Nutrition"; Olestra's Effect on Vitamins D and E in Humans Can Be Offset by Increasing Dietary Levels of These Vitamins; T. Schlagheack, et al.; August 1997
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