Overhyped Products: Olestra
Here's a simple lesson Procter & Gamble (PG) learned the hard way: If the Food and Drug Administration requires a label that says your product "may cause loose stools," just scrap it and move onto something else.
The Cincinnati-based consumer products giant assumed that Americans would risk abdominal cramps to devour its popular salty snacks made with Olestra, which preserved flavor while it eliminated fat. And, really, it wasn't such a surprising gamble to make. Americans are fat. They claim they want to lose weight, but really they want their potato chips and they want them greasy and salty, just like they're supposed to taste. Who could possibly resist a fat-free chip that tastes great?
Most people, as it turned out. Olestra is a fat substitute that Procter & Gamble fought to bring to market for three decades. In 1968, researchers discovered that adding fatty acid to sucrose created fat molecules that aren't broken down by the digestive system. Instead, they just slid right on through you. By the time it finally got FDA approval to use Olestra in certain snacks in 1996, P&G had spent $200 million developing it.
Frito-Lay teamed up with P&G to build a manufacturing facility to produce products with Olestra, which was known by its trade name Olean. The fat substitute appeared in Pringles as well as a new brand from Frito-Lay called Wow, which were Olean versions of Doritos, Lay's, Fritos, and Ruffles. Analysts applauded the launch, and one researcher called Wow the most successful food-product launch of the 1990s, with $58 million in sales during the first eight weeks.
It was sold as a dieter's dream. Although the FDA had only approved it for use in snacks, P&G planned on eventually getting approval for much more. We were going to cook with it, bake it, and keep our fat foods tasty while slimming down our waistlines.
The enthusiasm didn't last long, however. Apparently Americans were willing to ignore the fine print about cramps and loose stools until some pretty horrendous consumer experiences began appearing in the mainstream media. The FDA would eventually receive 20,000 consumer complaints of unpleasant digestive reactions to Olestra, more than the agency received from all other food additives combined. By 1999, sales of Wow chips were down 40%.
There were other troubling side effects as well. It seemed that as Olestra slipped through the digestive tract, it also inhibited the body from absorbing certain vitamins. That eventually led Canadian regulators to ban use of the product altogether in 2000, which left the United States as the only country allowing it.
Once the phrase "anal leakage" became undeniably linked to the product, of course, there was no real chance for Procter & Gamble to repair Olestra's image. It tried mightily, however, even sponsoring its own research study that showed Olestra led to lower cholesterol and didn't cause anymore digestive problems than other products on the market, such as bran fiber.
American's didn't buy it. Sales were so disappointing that P&G sold its Olean manufacturing plant in 2002. Those P&G-sponsored studied on Olestra did eventually convince the folks at the FDA that the product was safe, however, and in 2003 it dropped the label requirement on the abdominal issues. Frito-Lay discontinued the name brand Wow but continued using Olestra in its products re-branded as Lay's Light and Doritos Light.
Procter & Gamble, meanwhile, was determined to find a use for Olestra. And finally it did, but you'll find it in your local hardware store instead of your grocery. Earlier this year, the company launched a new product line called Sefose, made with Olestra, which is marketed as eco-friendly paints and industrial lubricants.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, which lobbied hard against Olestra in the late 1990s, is evidently okay with its current use. "As long as you're not lubricating your gastrointestinal tract, it's fine," its executive director told Scientific American.
Wow.
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