a casual ( very casual, --I’m lazy today!) web search turned up a million articles about olestra, but most of them could have been reduced to the same 2 sentences:
We are soon going to have a food revolution–eat all you want ,etc… and it won’t make you fat, 'cause this new fat/oil doesnt get absorbed.
There are a few reports of “minor” problems, like chronic diarhea, or malnutrition, but , hey, that’s not too important, right?
So–is the stuff being used commercially these days?
http://cspinet.org/new/200410251.html
“Anal Leakage”
Tostitos has a new line of very low fat tortilla chips using Olestra, FWIW.
Isn’t it also being marketed by a different name, now, too?
I see lots of chips in the snack aisle made with the stuff.
Aha! “Olean” was what I was thinking of.
I love this line from the article:
And this:
Poor bastards.
Hey, if the stuff doesn’t work for you, don’t eat it.
Extreme side-effects like that are by far the exception rather than the rule, and often the result of binging on the product in question.
The stuff doesn’t bother me in the least, and enables me to occasionally eat chips that actually taste like chips, rather than cardboard. So I wasn never real happy to hear so many people demand that the product be banned because they didn’t tolerate it.
Just make sure the products are clearly labeled as containing Olestra, and let folks decide.
I completely agree with you. Doesn’t mean i can’t feel sorry for the poor bastard nineteen-year-old who started leaking out his ass on a date.
Ok then.
(I’d have answered sooner, but I had to run to the bathroom)
Penis ensued.
I thought that part of the problem was that it performed fine at room temperature but not at body temperature.
Olestra does not cause anal leakage.
So said a report I heard on NPR a couple of years ago. According to the report as I remember it, the product testing required people to eat large quantities of Olestra potato chips every meal for several days. People did have side effects, including the infamous anal leakage. These side effects were not caused by Olestra, per se, but by the massive consumption of greasy potato chips. Eating the same quantity of regular potato chips also results in anal leakage.
Nonetheless, the regulatory agency (probably the FDA) wanted that warning on the chips. The company that developed and owned Olestra (J&J ?) miscalculated and went to market with the warning instead of fighting it. They thought it would be like many other warning labels which were read and discarded. They did not predict what a boon the phrase “anal leakage” would be to professional and amateur commedians, some on this board.
When released, some consumer group got a record number of complaints about the side effects, far more than the research indicated should happen. Apparently, the warnings got such air play that people were attributing every semi-soft poo within 6 months of contact of a chip to Olestra.
I remember them saying that the regulatory agency now agreeded that the results of the test did not warrant the label. However, last time I looked there still was a warning.
Again, I heard this probably a couple years ago, so take the details I’ve listed with a grain of anal leakage.
If I weren’t on the record as hating inside jokes and catch-phrases, I’d try to start one of anal leakage in bold.
FWIW, I heard the same stuff about it being caused by lots of grease, olestra or not.
I once sat down and ate a whole big bag of chips that were made with Olean just to see if I would experience the anal leakage. Never did. I was slightly disappointed. But now I know I can eat Olean products without any side affects.
I’ve just got to say: “Dude, you need a hobby” 
Yer a bit of an odd duck, huh?
As far as I’m aware, Olestra never made it to Australian shores - how does it work? Does it prevent you from digesting fat? Or is it actually an oil that contains no fat?
By the way, anal leakage would make a good name for a heavy-metal band.
It’s a fat/oil that your body cannot digest, thus no calories. It has more or less the same flavour.