flickering pictures

Yes, I know the title is cheesy. Has that ever stopped me before?

Found by Asher on divine caroline — a site I’m really starting to like — is a layman’s analysis of some of the chemicals, drugs and other heebie-jeebies in your food, by Brie Cadman:

The other day I was snacking on some bright orange “nacho” flavored tortilla chips when I decided to do something very stupid. I flipped the bag over and read the ingredient list. Given the color, I wasn’t expecting to find nature, distilled, but the double-digit list of ingredients, many of which I hadn’t seen since working in a lab, was still disconcerting. In fact, some of the chemicals were the same ones that drove me out of the lab. (You can only read “extreme neurotoxin” and “mutagenic” so many times before pondering a career change.) What were they doing in my chips?

[…] Only in America would an indigestible molecule that inhibits the absorption of vitamins and minerals, causes abdominal cramping, loose stools, and gas take in over $400 million in its first year. Only in America would a chemical most closely associated with two words — anal leakage — still have a chance in the food market. (Saw it yesterday in a can of Pringles Light, giving new meaning to the “once you pop, you can’t stop” slogan.) Interestingly, Olestra was first filed with the FDA as a drug, not a food product.

Because your body can’t digest it, Olestra can’t make you fat. But aside from the dubious wisdom of eating things that our bodies can’t break down, Olestra does more than make weight-conscious chip-lovers crap their pants — it also “soaks up and eliminates essential vitamins and nutrients like a sponge,” according to a Maclean’s magazine article. That means eating Olestra (and the Pringles and other products that contain it) could actually deprive you of the nutrients from the other, healthier foods in your diet.

The chemical is not yet approved in Canada, and Bruce Holub, a professor of nutritional sciences at Guelph University, says he it ought to stay that way. He has “serious concerns about allowing a plastic fat into the human food supply.” That seems reasonable.

According to the website set up by Procter and Gamble for the product, over 5.5 billion servings have been consumed. They have a counter up and everything.

Also from the Maclean’s article:

But the company argues that more than 150 studies involving more than 8,000 people show that olestra is safe. “For a new food additive there is no requirement for testing on people,” states Hassall. “We went beyond that and did a lot of testing on people.” But critics claim that the studies are inadequate. “Procter & Gamble wants the public to be human guinea pigs,” says Willett. “They have never done studies in humans beyond a few weeks and effects would likely show up over decades.” In fact, the FDA, as a condition of approval, is requiring P & G to continue studies on olestra consumption.

Harvey Anderson, a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto who has worked as a P & G consultant, takes a more benign view of olestra. “If you eat a small serving of olestra potato chips,” he says, “it will be neither here nor there.” And, he notes, because olestra can trigger loose bowels, it has a built-in defence against over-consumption. “If you overdosed,” he says, “there would be relatively quick feedback from the old digestive system.”

Comforting.

Thanks Asher!
Photo via Wikipedia.

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