The Olestra Detox Diet?

[nobimbo]

The Olestra Detox Diet?
Fake fat appears to spur body's excretion of toxins
Betterhumans Staff
12/17/2004 5:48 PM

Credit: Betterhumans
Health food: The fake fat olestra could help eliminate pollutants from the body, report researchers who have used fat-free Pringles to treat a woman with PCB toxicity

The fake fat olestra spurs the excretion of toxins from the body, report researchers who have treated a PCB-laden woman with fat-free Pringles.

Some studies have shown that olestra, used as a fat substitute in some foods, can help eliminate fat-soluble pollutants such as dioxin.

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine in Ohio and the University of Western Australia, in a not-yet-published study, say they have treated a woman with PCB toxicity over a two-year period using olestra in the form of fat-free Pringles. They report that the woman's chloracne disappeared and the levels of PCB in her fat tissue dropped dramatically.

Ronald Jandacek and colleagues from the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine team has now provided more evidence for olestra's detoxification effects in a study looking at how diet affects retention and distribution in the body of chlorinated hydrocarbons such as PCBs and dioxins.

Eliminating pollution

The researchers note that fat soluble pollutants such as PCBs are widespread and known to ascend the food chain, meaning that everyone tested has measurable levels.

To examine the effects of diet and olestra on such pollutants in the body, they used a radioactively marked toxin, 14C-hexachlorobenzene (14C-HCB), that is only partly metabolized by mice.

They found that weight loss caused a three-fold increase of the toxin's amount and concentration in the brain. This decreased when weight was regained but then increased again after a second weight loss.

The researchers then repeated the experiment by feeding the toxin directly into the stomach of mice along with olestra. They found that this significantly increased the toxin's elimination.

They found that "combined dietary olestra and caloric restriction caused a 30-fold increase in the rate of excretion" of a test toxin and that the toxin's distribution "into the brain resulting from the restricted diet was reduced by 50% by dietary olestra."

Jandacek's laboratory now plans to continue its research in this area, including by looking further into olestra and its mechanism of action in the excretion process.

The research is reported in the American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology (read abstract).

http://www.betterhumans.com/News/news.aspx?articleID=2004-12-17-6

[CindySue48]

I saw an article that said they were thinking of treating Viktor Yuschenko's Dioxin poisoning.

[nobimbo]

Yo-yo diet redistributes toxins in body tissue; Olestra+caloric cut boosts toxic excretion
18 Dec 2004

Perhaps Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko should try an "Olestra diet" to rid his body of dioxin.

It wouldn't be the first time that the "fake fat" product was used as an emergency agent to flush out dioxin, one of a group of chlorinated hydrocarbons that are toxic, lipophilic (attracted to fat) - and persistent in the environment and animal tissues. About five years ago, two Austrian women suffering from dioxin poisoning were given olestra snacks, which resulted in removal of dioxin at 10 times the normal rate, according to some reports.

In an as-yet-unpublished study, researchers at the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine, along with Trevor Redgrave at the University of Western Australia, treated a patient with PCB toxicity over a two-year period with olestra in the form of fat-free Pringles. The patient's chloracne disappeared and the PCB level in fat tissue dropped dramatically.

The same University of Cincinnati School of Medicine team is reporting new research that sheds light into how diet affects retention and re-distribution through the weight gain-loss-regain cycle of chlorinated hydrocarbons, which include DDT, PCBs and dioxins. They also looked at the effects of the additive olestra, which is made by Procter & Gamble, on this redistribution and perhaps more importantly, on excretion of toxins from the body.

Indeed, "combined dietary olestra and caloric restriction caused a 30-fold increase in the rate of excretion" of a test toxin, while the toxin's distribution "into the brain resulting from the restricted diet was reduced by 50% by dietary olestra," the study found.

The study, "Effects of yo-yo diet, caloric restriction, and olestra on tissue distribution of hexachlorobenzene," was conducted by Ronald J. Jandacek, Nicole Anderson, Min Liu, Shuqin Zheng, Qing Yang and Patrick Tso of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Cincinnati School of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio. The research appears in the online edition of the American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, published by the American Physiological Society.

They're everywhere, and with long half-lives

Toxic lipophilic substances like PCBs and dioxins are so widespread globally, and are known to ascend the food chain, that virtually "all people tested have measurable levels of some of these compounds," the Jandacek et al. report notes. Because the compounds and many of their metabolites are lipophilic (attracted to fat) they are stored in adipose (fat) tissue where they remain stable, usually without adverse affect in moderate amounts for their long half-lives.

Jandacek and his colleagues designed a multi-branch, multi-endpoint study that showed with weight loss (with and without olestra) toxins redistribute around the body, but with differing affinity to various organs.

Method and results: brain, adipose and liver tissue differences

The Cincinnati researchers used 14C-hexachlorobenzene (14C-HCB), a radioactively-marked toxin that is only partly metabolized by mice, to measure how its distribution changed in various organs during the weight gain-loss yo-yo process.

They found that continued "weight loss resulted in a three-fold increase of 14C amount and concentration in the brain. After weight regain, 14C in the brain decreased but then increased again after a second weight loss." In adipose tissue, weight loss resulted in an increase in the concentration of 14C without changing the total amount in the fat tissue. "Weight loss and regain resulted in an increase of 14C in the liver that reflected an increase of fat in the liver," Jandacek et al. reported.

At this point, the regimen of weight gain and loss was repeated in mice gavaged (direct-fed to the stomach) with 14C-HCB, with one group receiving the "non-absorbable fat, olestra" in their diet. The results were striking: "Combined dietary olestra and caloric restriction caused a 30-fold increase in the rate of excretion of 14C, relative to an ad lib diet or a reduced caloric (diet) alone. The distribution of 14C into the brain resulting from the restricted diet was reduced by 50% by dietary olestra," Jandacek et al. reported.

Next steps

The results of the current study have indicated several avenues to pursue, among them being:

-- Plasma HCB increased with prolonged caloric restriction, indicating the need for future studies into the possible role of carriers of HCB.

-- HCB was cleared more rapidly from chylomicrons than triacylglycerol, "suggesting an affinity of organochlorines for the fatty acids generated during fat metabolism."

-- "How plasma carriers facilitate HCB entry into the brain is an interesting question with potential physiological implications."

-- Jandacek's laboratory is currently studying the relationship of fasting and refeeding to liver lipid deposition.

-- The exact role of olestra and its mechanism of action in the excretion process.

-- Whether and how different organochlorine compounds (PCBs, dioxins, etc.) undergo redistribution in yo-yo diet situations.
v -- Testing a lipase inhibitor such as orlistat (Xenical, Roche) "will also result in partial blockage of the enterohepatic circulation of lipophiles by providing an undigested intestinal triacylglycerol phase that will solubilize these compounds."

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=18003#

[potatofree]

I ate the fat-free pringles once.... given the rate things were leaving MY body, it wouldn't suprise me that it takes something with it. :blush:

[VickySail]

OMG, Olestra as a toxin purger? What's next? Ex-Lax as a weight loss aid? No wait, that's been done.

Um, stop me if I'm wrong, but isn't there a WARNING on the side of a chips bag with Olestra as an ingredient? Something along the lines of explosive diarrhea?

I'll pass.

[Dodger]

I'm glad that they seem to have found a good reason to eat Olestra Pringles. They certainly are not a food product. As a drug, maybe they will be regulated to prescription only.

[mio1996]

If it works I think that Olestra could be a great choice for someone who has been poisoned like Viktor Yuschenko. It would be used only for a short time, I would suppose. I would never recommend it as a food product, however, since for one I think REAL dietary fat is very good for you and secondly Olestra also removes from your body fat soluble vitamins such as vitamin E. This could make you very sick very quickly if used as a daily diet aid.

By the way, when fat-free pringles first arrived on the scene I was starvation dieting and ate whole packs of them at times. The diarrhea never happened to me. Of course, my stomach was apparently molded from cast-iron anyway, as food never upsets it :)

[bluesmoke]

As stated above, anything that causes the runs like that is undoubtedly removing all kinds of substances from one's body. Someone should do reseach to see what beneficial vitamins and minerals subsequently flow down the colonic river. Nyah Levi

[Lisa N]

As stated above, anything that causes the runs like that is undoubtedly removing all kinds of substances from one's body. Someone should do reseach to see what beneficial vitamins and minerals subsequently flow down the colonic river. Nyah Levi

I'm not sure how much research would really need to be done since it's well-known that diarrhea doesn't give the intestinal system enough time to properly absorb nutrients. Malnutrition is a side effect of chronic diarrhea.
For a short period of time as a medical treatment, it probably wouldn't do a lot of harm as long as they were monitoring for dehyrdation and resulting electrolyte imbalances but this would seem one case to me where the treatment is almost as bad as the disease being treated. :p

[tom sawyer]

It seems odd that olestra would change the metabolism of stored fat and the toxins found therein, in a way that was different than what you would find by just dieting.

[Nancy LC]

Yeah! I actually think it is pretty cool. Another tool for the toolbox of doctors treating people with exposure to nasty chemicals. I just wish there was something other than Pringles you could eat with olestra in it!