Conference rocks::weight_control

98.0. "Miracle fat lets you eat and be thin" by ESASE::BENO (But I bought the last round!) Fri Aug 14 1987 03:33

    The FAT person's fantasy of a diet of chips(french fries for American
    readers), burgers (hamburgers!) and gooey cakes - without the calories
     may soon become a reality.
    A new wonder substance, which has been 20 years in the making, is
    now being scrutinished by the all-powerful American Food and Drug
    Administration and if it gets the thumbs up, it's guaranteed to
    revolutionise our way of eating.
    Olestra, the miracle,, substance now being tested, can be used like
    a fat in the making of cream cakes, pies, chips and other goodies.
    The food tastes the same- but the heartening news is - Olestra is
    fat-free, calorie-free and cholesterol-free.
    The makers, food giants Proctor and Gamble, claim that although
    it can be used like butter or margarine, and made to taste like
    any other edible fat, its amazing properties lie in the fact that
    it is not absorbed by the body.
    Ironically, Olestra, is a synthesised product of a fat and sugar
    combination-but unlike its components, its not broken down by the
    body's enzymes and therefore won't add an inch or an ounce to the
    consumer's frame.
    Tests on overweight people in Cincinnati, where the headquarters
    of Proctor and Gamble are locate, resulted in ten people losing
    an average of 8 lbs each in 20 days on a diet using the special
    sugar and fat combination. And now food manufactures are excited
    about the possibility that Olestra will remove the health hazards
    from foods traditionally loaded with health threatening cholesterol
    and fats.
    Doctors are also enthusiastic about the new substance which could
    cut down on fat intake, and reduce the worrying incidence of heart
    disease in the western world. If Proctor and Gamble are given the
    go ahead to mass produce Olestra by the American Food and Drug
    Administration, we could soon be gorging ourselves on all the foods
    that have recently become taboo to the health conscious.
    Detailed test will first have to be carried out however, to ensure
    that Olestra will not carry of essential vitamins as it makes its
    way through the body.
    
    (an Article in the August 13 Irish Independent)
    
    Please keep me informed if this stuff hit the market as we will
    probably get it ten years later in Ireland.  And someone mail me
    a ton or two of cream cakes made with this stuff!
    

    
    For further discussion on this topic, use note #55.
    
    This note has been set no-write.
    
    						--- Neal