Olestra’s Long-Term Effect Main Concern

The color photograph on the cover of the public relations material shows a handsome weathered barn in a field planted with soybeans. The deep blue sky is streaked with billowy, white cumulus clouds. Inside the brochure, there is a close-up of this field, the farmer knee-deep in his crops. The scene is so real you can see the insect holes in the leaves of the plants.

If you think this might be an ad for tofu or roasted soybean snacks you would be wrong, but you would still get the message: The manufacturer wants you to believe that whatever he is selling is natural and healthful and filled with old-fashioned goodness.

Welcome to the world of olestra, the fake fat. Procter & Gamble has begun its nationwide introduction of the fat substitute, under the name Olean, with a variety of fat-free snacks including Wow! label Lay’s and Ruffles potato chips and Doritos (fat-free Pringles are coming later). The company’s television advertising, launched at the end of the Winter Olympics, uses the same evocative images.

Olestra, a synthetic combination of sugar, soybean and cottonseed oil, travels through the body without leaving any calories behind. Along the way, it also inhibits the body’s absorption of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K as well as nutrients like carotenoids, which are found in fruits and vegetables and which many scientists believe help prevent cancer and heart disease.

Olestra is being fortified with the vitamins, but not the carotenoids. Procter & Gamble’s own studies have shown that just one ounce of olestra potato chips, eaten over three meals in a day, reduced levels of carotenoids by at least 50 percent within two or three weeks.

Some scientists are concerned about the long-term effects of such carotenoid depletion. Diseases that may be linked to long-term low intake of carotenoids include muscular degeneration, prostate cancer and heart disease.

“There are over 50 epidemiological studies that have found diets rich in carotenoids are associated with lower risk of cancer,” said Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health.

But both the Food and Drug Administration, which approved the use of olestra, and Procter & Gamble say there is no proof that carotenoids prevent cancer, so olestra is safe to use.

For some people, olestra presents a more immediate - not to mention more publicized - problem. It may produce gastrointestinal difficulties, and products containing the fat substitute must carry a warning label saying it can cause “abdominal cramping and loose stools.”

In its press material, Procter & Gamble says recent studies show no more digestive problems with olestra products than regular, full-fat snacks.

Dr. Meir Stampfer, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, says people who stop eating products containing olestra because of diarrhea or cramps may be the lucky ones.

“My main concern is long-term ill effects, and it may be virtually impossible to establish the link,” he said.