the side effects of olestra

[Kelly]

Do the side effect of OLESTR outweigh the benefits?

[su-texas]

Olestra

Dr. Weil: You can go to http://www.drweil.com , ... type
Olestra in the search box & click on GO, ... & then look
in the lower right hand corner under Q&A, for "What's
Olestra All About?".

Olestra aint a friendly product.

Google Groups Archives: There is also the archive search of
usenet/newsgroups, which is at http://groups.google.com

Google Groups: & There is the regular internet search at
http://www.google.com

susan, su_texas my opinions

[Martin Ban]

>Dr. Weil: You can go to http://www.drweil.com , ... type
> Olestra in the search box & click on GO, ... & then look
> in the lower right hand corner under Q&A, for "What's
> Olestra All About?".

Thanks Susan, I did not know that Weil had a website. I have
several of his books.

I knew that a warning that Olestra decreased the absorption of
A, D, E and K was required but I did not realize that the FDA
also required the addition of A, D, E, and K to products that
contain Olestra (Weils' statement).

I have not bought any products that contain Olestra so I
really don't know what's on the label.

The Center for Sciene in the Public Interest seems to be more
negative on Olestra than Weil is.

Fat and sugar substitutes have had no impact on the obesity
problem. None of these man made products appear to be
completely benign and some appear to pose significant
health risks.

Because Olestra will lower the absorption of anything that
is fat-soluble, I would say that it poses more of a health
risk than most of these other products. The GI problems
are rare but everytime Olestra comes in, all of the fat
soluble material in the food will be affected by the
presence of Olestra.

We are taking about all of the carotenoids, the phytosterols,
the phyto estrogens, etc. How much of a reduction in
absorption depends on how much Olestra is present and how
often products that contain Olestra are used.

Weil says that the FDA is monitoring the situation. They can
only monitor the GI problems. If Olestra in some people causes
a carotenoid, a phytoestrogen or a phytosterol deficiency,
these effects are not going to be reported to the FDA.

Papers may be published showing these effects but these three
different classes of plant nutrients are not really considered
to be essential for humans.

Only if Olestra is linked to deficiencies of A, D, E or K is
the FDA likely to take any kind of action. If these vitamins
really are being added to every food that contains Olestra,
it's highly unlikely that Olestra will ever be linked to
deficiencies of these vitamins.

I resisted making any kind of statement on Olestra because I
did not want to spend any time trying to review the literature
on it. Putting Weils' website up was enough for me to read
what he says and make a few comments on Olestra.

If Olestra finds it's way in a very large number of foods, I
think that there could be a significant problem but I can't
see the FDA stepping in and saving us from Olestra.

Marty B "You are what you eat"

[su-texas]

Personal Experience with Olestra:

i ate some potato chips once, that were fat-free & were
probably made with Olestra.

the chips did not taste very good, plus i then had stomach
cramps & BM problems for a while.

my body seemed to react to Olestra, like it was a poison.

it seems far easier & better to just eat healthier, natural
foods, .... than to go for the overly-hyped & promoted, very
expensive, designer-type, complex-chemical, drug-type "foods".

susan, su_texas my opinions

[Hilite]

On Sat, 23 Mar 2002 09:29:42 -0600 (CST),
su-texas@webtv.net wrote:

>Personal Experience with Olestra:
>
>i ate some potato chips once, that were fat-free & were
>probably made with Olestra.
>
>the chips did not taste very good, plus i then had stomach
>cramps & BM problems for a while.
>
>my body seemed to react to Olestra, like it was a poison.
>
>it seems far easier & better to just eat healthier,
>natural foods, .... than to go for the overly-hyped &
>promoted, very expensive, designer-type, complex-chemical,
>drug-type "foods".

This is a beautiful sentence (and funny too).

>susan, su_texas my opinions