What are fat replacers? Are they safe?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Some foods are made with fat replacers—ingredients that provide some of the taste and texture of fats, but with fewer kcalories. Because the body may digest and absorb some of these fat replacers, they may contribute energy, although significantly less energy than fat’s nine kcalories per gram.
Some fat replacers are derived from carbohydrate, protein, or fat. Carbohydrate-based fat replacers are used primarily as thickeners or stabilizers in foods such as soups and salad dressings. Protein-based fat replacers provide a creamy feeling in the mouth and are often used in foods such as ice creams and yogurts. Fat-based replacers act as emulsifiers and are heat stable, making them most versatile in shortenings used in cake mixes and cookies.
Fat replacers offering the sensory and cooking qualities of fats but none of the kcalories are called artificial fats. A familiar example of an artificial fat that has been approved for use in snack foods such as potato chips, crackers, and tortilla chips is olestra. Olestra’s chemical structure is similar to that of a triglyceride but with important differences. A triglyceride is composed of a glycerol molecule with three fatty acids attached, whereas olestra is made of a sucrose molecule with six to eight fatty acids attached. Enzymes in the digestive tract cannot break the bonds of olestra, so unlike sucrose or fatty acids, olestra passes through the digestive system unabsorbed. The FDA’s evaluation of olestra’s safety addressed two questions. First, is olestra toxic? Research on both animals and human beings supports the safety of olestra as a partial replacement for dietary fats and oils, with no reports of cancer or birth defects. Second, does olestra affect either nutrient absorption or the health of the digestive tract? When olestra passes through the digestive tract unabsorbed, it binds with some of the fat-soluble vitamins—A, D, E, and K—and carries them out of the body, robbing the person of these valuable nutrients.
To compensate for these losses, the FDA requires manufacturers to fortify olestra with vitamins A, D, E, and K. Saturating olestra with these vitamins does not make the product a good source of vitamins, but it does block olestra’s ability to bind with the vitamins from other foods. An asterisk in the ingredients list informs consumers that these added vitamins are “dietarily insignificant.” Consumers need to keep in mind that low-fat and fat-free foods still deliver kcalories. Alternatives to fat can help lower energy intake and support weight loss only when they actually replace fat and energy in the diet.