Chips Made With Olestra Not Great, But Not Too Bad

When you stack potato chips made with the newly approved fat substitute olestra up against their soon-to-be competitors, they do OK.

At least that was the consensus in a blind tasting of Procter & Gamble’s olestra chips next to commercial potato chips. They weren’t the best, but they weren’t the worst, either.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month approved the use of olestra in such salty snack foods as potato chips and crackers. It will be several months before products containing olestra appear on store shelves.

In the Chicago tasting, nine food professionals sampled a test batch of fat-free olestra chips along with seven kinds of supermarket chips, including regular, reduced-fat, low-fat and fat-free brands.

Of a possible nine points, the olestra chips averaged 3.9. The best-rated chips, Eagle Thins, received a score of 5.9, while the worst - Louise’s Fat-Free - came in at 2.3.

One taster awarded the olestra chips eight points, while another gave them only one. Several commented on their potato flavor, a few said they could use more salt, and two said they had a slight taste of shrimp.

Olestra, a synthetic chemical compound made mostly out of sugar and vegetable oil, looks like a fat, cooks like a fat and feels like a fat in the mouth. But because its molecules are too big to be digested, it passes through the body without adding any fat or calories.

Tests have showed side effects can include abdominal cramping, diarrhealike symptoms and the depletion of nutrients from the body. The FDA required warning labels on olestra products, and the addition of vitamins to make up for those that can be lost.