olestra
Sign in to saveAlso known as Olean, sucrose polyester
Olestra (also known by its brand name Olean) is a fat substitute food additive that adds no metabolizable calories to products. It has been used in the preparation of otherwise high-fat foods, thereby lowering or eliminating their fat content.
Key facts
- Drug.Verifiedfields
- changed
- Drug.Watchedfields
- changed
- Drug.image
- Olestra.svg
- Drug.image_class
- skin-invert-image
- Drug.image2
- Olestra stereo animation.gif
- Drug.caption
- Top: Generic 2D structure of olestra, where R = H or fatty acid group, C(O)CnHmBottom: Stereoscopic animation of a representative olestra molecule with 8 unsaturated fatty acid groups
- Drug.tradename
- Olean
- Drug.legal_US
- otc
- Drug.CAS_number
- 121854-29-3
- Drug.ChemSpiderID
- none
- Drug.UNII
- 6742Y30KGK
- Drug.chemical_formula
- (where fatty acids are saturated)
- Drug.molecular_weight
- Variable
via Wikipedia infobox
Research
228 papers- Olestra, a nonabsorbed, noncaloric replacement for dietary fat: a review.Drug metabolism reviews · 1997
- Olestra formulation and the gastrointestinal tract.Lipids · 1999
- The selling of olestra.Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974) · 1998
- Detox diets for toxin elimination and weight management: a critical review of the evidence.Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association · 2015
- Review article: olestra and its gastrointestinal safety.Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics · 1998
via PubMed
~10 min read
Article
7 sectionsContents
- Commercialization
- Discontinued products
- Side effects
- Chemistry
- Applications
- References
- External links
Olestra (also known by its brand name Olean) is a fat substitute food additive that adds no metabolizable calories to products. It has been used in the preparation of otherwise high-fat foods, thereby lowering or eliminating their fat content.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved olestra for use in the US as a replacement for fats and oils in prepackaged ready-to-eat snacks in 1996, concluding that such use "meets the safety standard for food additives, reasonable certainty of no harm". In the early 2000s, olestra lost popularity due to supposed side effects and is largely phased out, but products containing the ingredient are available in some countries. As of 2024, no products using olestra are sold in the United States.