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Olestra / Olean
🕑 Added 2025-08-11 15:28:39 +0000 UTCOlestra (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,[2] concluding that such use "meets the safety standard for food additives, reasonable certainty of no harm".[3]: 46399 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.
Comments
Peej O'Neill
What game are they talking about?
Gilmore Snout
I’m glad you mentioned Phen-Phen, that one was wild. It’s a combination of stimulants that caused reduced appetite but also a bunch of heart problems. Though, regarding phenylephrine - that’s a commonly misunderstood statement from the FDA, phenylephrine is used IV to great effect as a medicine to correct dangerously low blood pressure. It doesn’t work well when taken orally because of poor absorption and metabolism.
