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Olestra snack chips draw more consumer complaints
July 15, 1997
Web posted at: 10:36 a.m. EDT (1436 GMT)From Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen
(CNN) -- Food companies in the United States are preparing to go nationwide with snack chips made with the fat substitute olestra. But ahead of the sales campaign there have been more complaints by consumers that these chips cause severe stomach problems.
Recent documents from the Food and Drug Administration show that more than 800 consumers have called in to complain that they got sick from chips made with olestra.
One woman said she suffered from cramps about two hours after eating a one ounce bag of olestra chips, and that the snack caused severe diarrhea.
A man complained of severe abdominal cramps. "After about one hour of eating ... I could hardly walk," he said.
And another consumer reported that he woke up in the middle of the night with severe cramps and was unable to make it to the bathroom.
Some scientists say they are not surprised by the number of complaints about olestra. Dr. Meir Stampfer of the Harvard School of Public Health says olestra works in such a way that it passes right through a person's gastrointestinal tract.
Stampfer said the FDA should take snacks made with olestra off the market. So far the olestra snacks have been available only in test markets in Ohio, Indiana and Colorado.
"It's causing these gastrointestinal problems, it's a mistake to let it go into our food supply and they should admit the mistake and just remove it."
— Dr. Meir Stampfer
"It's causing these gastrointestinal problems, it's a mistake to let it go into our food supply and they should admit the mistake and just remove it," Stampfer said.
The FDA declined to comment. However, Procter & Gamble, which makes olestra, said 800 complaints were not much considering that millions of people had eaten the chips.
"It's important to understand this is a very low rate of response, it's less than 0.01 percent," said the company's Greg Allgood.
Allgood said olestra chips were very popular in the snack market. "Most people tell us this is a product that works for them and they really enjoy," he said.
Procter & Gamble also asked some of the people who complained about the chips to try them again. The company claimed that when people did eat them again, they felt no different than when they ate regular chips.
The olestra manufacturer now hopes to take the chips nationwide sometime next year. But one consumer group, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said it will try to make sure that won't happen. It has set up its own toll-free line (1-888-OLESTRA) and said it has received 800 additional complaints.
- Consumer News: Food - Fat
- Consumer News: Fitness and Health - Fitness
- Consumer News: Fitness and Health - Obesity
Related stories:
- Procter & Gamble wants to take fake fat nationwide - June 16, 1997
- Olestra prompts a fat-free food fight - October 1, 1996
- New fake fat: tastes good, less filling - August 25, 1996
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- Olestra and Other Fat Substitutes - from the Food and Drug Administration
- Olean - Procter and Gamble's official Olestra site
- Center for Science in the Public Interest - a nonprofit education and advocacy organization that focuses on improving the safety and nutritional quality of our food supply
- Harvard School of Public Health
- Olestra/Olean Haiku - poetry inspired by the FDA-approved fat substitute
- Olestra: The Facts - from the Frito-Lay Company
- Diabetes Monitor - Olestra Information - from the Midwest Diabetes Care Center
- Penn State Research on Olestra - from the College of Health and Human Development
- Questions and Answers about Olestra - from the Ohio State University Food Science and Technology Department.
- Olestra (Olean) - information from the American Heart Association National Center
- Issue In Focus: Olestra - from the American Council on Science and Health
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