What is the history of olestra?
For years fat replacers have suffered from limitations in how they could be used at high temperatures and from their inability to match the many effects that fat has on food such as texture, flavor delivery and “mouthfeel.” Additionally, many fat reducers were able to cut the amount of fat they added to foods but not the amount of calories. Procter & Gamble changed all that with the discovery, and FDA approval, of its fat replacer, olestra. But, Olean brand olestra was not an overnight discovery. It’s a vegetable-based cooking oil that has been in the making for more than 30 years. It originated during the late 1960s when Fred Mattson and Bob Volpenhein of P&G discovered a fat that is not absorbed or digested by the body. Originally called sucrose polyesters, the substance was later renamed olestra and used as a cooking oil. In the early 1970s, Procter & Gamble began meeting with the FDA to discuss using olestra in foods. Over the years, they covered issues such as overall safety, nutr
