Fat-Free Chips: A '90s Miracle Turned Stomach Ache

P&G researchers started inventing olestra in 1968, aiming to create a product providing fats for premature babies.The goal was to provide fats for premature babies.P&G did not scrap the product even though it failed. P&G found olestra bound to cholesterol and moved it out of the body. The company sought FDA approval to make olestra a high cholesterol medication. P&G spent ten years trying to show the FDA the product's benefit. The FDA rejected it many times, but P&G did not quit.

Researchers in the 1990s saw a chance to turn the product into a fat substitute. P&G spent millions developing this. The company aimed to license the product to food makers, expanding its reach into food. After spending $200-300 million on olestra, P&G tried everything for FDA approval. They lobbied, hired chefs for healthy meals, and paid for studies to counter consumer claims of stomach issues. P&G pushed olestra until the FDA approved it.

Doctors wondered why so many people died from heart disease, not understanding how nutrition affected health. They figured the cause was people overconsuming fat.People overconsumed fat.By the 1990s, doctors and researchers promoted a higher-carb/low-fat diet to fix these worries. This pushed politicians and food manufacturers to bring the trend to consumers. Low-fat products quickly flooded the marketplace.Low-fat products flooded the marketplace.Shoppers avoided high-fat natural items like real butter and nuts.

Food manufacturers made many fat-free cookies and chips, knowing consumers would buy snack foods if told they were fat-free. Products like SnackWell's and the WOW! versions of Doritos, Ruffles, and Lay's became popular. Monsanto, Kraft, and others researched fat substitutes, but P&G's Olean made the biggest contribution to this trend.The WOW! versions of Doritos, Ruffles, and Lay's quickly became popular.Doritos, Ruffles, and Lay's gained quick popularity. Companies like Monsanto, Kraft, and others researched fat substitutes. P&G's Olean made the biggest impact on this trend.

P&G made olestra by combining ingredients, including vegetable oil and sugar.Olestra used vegetable oil and sugar.Many researchers think the human body evolved to like sweet and fatty foods because fats often signal a food is high in calories.Foods high in calories have sweet flavors.Sweet flavors exist in foods that provide energy.Foods provide energy.People needed traits for survival when daily life was hard and food supply was unsure. Because of these inherited biological cravings, many people found products with olestra a satisfying taste and texture.

Olestra molecules were bigger than natural fat, making them harder for the body to digest and absorb. The body excreted them instead of keeping them. People eating olestra products consumed fewer calories but still found the products tasty and satisfying.

P&G used this to market its products. "The beauty of olestra is permission to overindulge in perfectly crunchy, salty, good-tasting potato chips that merrily leave your fingers shiny," One WOW! reviewer wroteOlestra tastes like fat but doesn't digest the same way, without the fat and half the guilt.

Researchers found olestra before P&G used it in snacks.Olestra binds to cholesterol.in the body and carried it out of the body when excreted. Unfortunately, this also stopped the body fromOlestra absorbs fat-soluble vitamins.Olestra impairs the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, including carotenoids, which keeps people healthy. "Impaired absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, including carotenoids, are enough reasons to have serious doubts about this food additive and recommend against its use," one doctor told an olestra panel before the FDA approved it in products.

To bypass this problem, food makers added vitamins to their fat-free products.They added vitamins E, D, K, and A. The FDA thought these added vitamins would replace any lost vitamins after eating these products. The FDA required companies to add labels explaining why these vitamins were added. Though the FDA still makes companies add these vitamins to olestra products, companies no longer need to tell consumers why they are added.The FDA figured the added vitamins would make up for any that were lost after consuming these products, and required companies to add labels informing consumers why these vitamins were added. Although the FDA still requires companies to add these vitamins to olestra-containing products, companies no longer need to inform consumers why they have been added.

When P&G started testing products with Olean, some humans and rats that took partfelt stomach issues. Studies done by others apart from P&G often showed similar but mixed results. Some studies, including one tracking more than 3,000 people for 20 weeks, showed manypeople had no troubleafter eating olestra, but other tests showed a different outcome. During a test marketing period in Indiana, hundreds of people calledthe Center for Science in the Public Interest to complain about olestra products and share their experiences.The Center for Science in the Public Interest complained about olestra products and shared their experiences.

Executive director Michael F. Jacobson said, "The flood of calls we have received is just the tip of the iceberg. In just two weeks, WOW! chips likely sickened thousands. People missed work or school, called doctors, or couldn't use the bathroom in time."

At a press conference, several people shared week-long diarrhea, bad flatulence, and vomiting after eating only half an ounce of WOW! chips. P&G pushed for FDA approval, claiming gastrointestinal distress happens after eating many foods.

After P&G spent millions lobbying for olestra approval, the...The FDA finally agreed.In 1996, the agency approved Olestra only if food makers marked products as potentially problematic. The FDA required companies place a clear label on Olestra products stating, "Olestra may cause abdominal cramping and loose stools."

P&G disliked this rule. It would likely stop people from buying its products. Food makers followed the FDA order. The first products with the fat substitute hit the public in 1998.

P&G released the WOW! Chips after Once Olestra Was Approved.first products containing Olean.Frito-Lay used it in 1998.Frito-Lay licensed the fat substitute.Frito-Lay used it in WOW! Doritos, Ruffles, and Lay's. The company tried to get people to ignore the "loose stool" warning label by packaging the chips in brightly colored bags.The bags used bright colors.The company offered several sizes. This might mean consumers ignored warnings if they bought snacks in smaller amounts.

Chips with Olean cost more than others. Still, people liked the idea of fat-free snacks, and WOW! sales remained high. By 2000, sales dropped to half their original amount. Taste, price, the warning label, or regret made many consumers decide the lack of fat was not worth it.

P&G ignored the bad stomach issues from some test marketers.P&G refused to stop using Olestra.What happened after Frito-Lay and others used Olean was not surprising. Consumers who ignored the "loose stool" warnings and ate freely often suffered.More than 20,000 people suffered.Sick, angry consumers contacted the Center for Science in the Public Interest and P&G with many complaints. P&G sent these complaints to the FDA.

Consumers reported cramping, diarrhea, oily discharge, and fecal incontinence. Some who ate Olestra products became so sick they needed colonoscopies and hospital stays. By 2002, the FDA received more Olestra complaints than all other food additive complaints. The FDA said P&G must report these complaints, but it failed to hold the company responsible.

Despite the complaints, the FDA thought consumers' experiences eating Olean chips were not much different.These experiences were not much different from stomach problems caused by other chips. The agency let Olestra stay on the market.The agency allowed Olestra to remain available.

Consumers probably ignored labels warning about "loose stools" on packaging. Comedians picked up on the joke, so Frito-Lay lost hope.The OnionMade fun of the fat-free trend by publishing a parody open letter from Olean's makers, which included, "That's right, watery sh*t is going to dribble down your log-like, oafish legs... Maybe you'll threaten to not eat my exciting new fat substitute? I doubt it. That would take self-control," Jay Leno.Jay Leno published a parody open letter from Olean's makers, mocking the fat-free trend. The letter included: "That's right, watery sh*t is going to dribble down your log-like, oafish legs... Maybe you'll threaten to not eat my exciting new fat substitute? I doubt it. That would take self-control."Jay Leno told viewers about the fat-free trend.The reports say olestra causes diarrhea and, now, anal leakage. Folks, when you finish Pringles, you might want to keep the can.

Mad TV covered this.Mad TV jumped on the joke early in 1996.The company created a commercial.The company made a commercial for a fake product promising "10% less anal leakage." Robin Williams added a bit to his 2002 special, and the jokes continued into the next century.Robin Williams appeared on Live on Broadway.Williams said, "That's not a side effect."Williams said about anal leakage.Williams stated, "If my *ss is going [squirts a bottle of water on the stage], I think that's an effect, really." Others made similar comments.The Daily Show featured this.Co-creator Lizz Winstead used olestra to point out American health issues and priorities. In 2004, she joked, "Rather than moderating our eating habits, we in America would rather sit in a pool of our own filth," if that is how you eat the whole bag of chips.

Frito-Lay and P&G repeatedly lowered olestra product sales.Frito-Lay and P&G asked the FDA to remove the required warning label.Companies eventually got the warning label. The change did not happen until 2003. A study found 3,000 people eating olestra or regular chips for six weeks showed little difference in stomach issues. Because of this, the FDA changed its mind about the ruling. The FDA saw a bigger problem with several companies.A study showed 3,000 people eating olestra or regular chips for six weeks had little difference in stomach issues. The FDA changed its mind about the ruling because several people blamed the chips for illness, even though intestinal viruses and appendicitis caused the problems.The agency thought warning labels caused these mistakes because negative press about olestra influenced consumers' self-diagnoses.

The FDA reasoned their rules must be consistent.Since the agency does not put warnings on foods like fruit and cereals with high fiber that can cause stomach upset, the FDA should not target olestra.The FDA should not single out olestra since it does not put warning labels on foods like fruit and cereals with high fiber that might cause stomach upset. The FDA also stopped making food manufacturers explain why they added vitamins on packaging. Though the rule changes pleased food manufacturers, the FDA's decision angered many nutritionists and health advocates. They felt the lack of food company transparency about product content hurt consumers. Despite this win for P&G and manufacturers, many consumers knew olestra's reputation and avoided the product; sales never recovered.

Although the FDA stopped requiring warning labels on olestra products, they did not ban the fat substitute. Purdue University published a study in 2011.Purdue University published a study in 2011.Olestra proved another product flaw: it might make people gain weight.A 2011 study suggested that Olestra actually triggers weight gain.The study suggested Olestra causes weight gain.

Researchers thought fat substitutes cause overeating. Olestra messes with how the body controls food. This chemical interference with digestion also lets people gain weight.

Rats fed olestra potato chips gained weight when they ate regular fats. Olestra changed the rats' physical food response. It altered their fat regulation ability, causing weight gain.

Professor Susan Swithers said, "When we get cues that something is fatty but no calories arrive—like with fat substitutes—our body gets confused." This confusion stops the body from preparing to digest fatty food later.