<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
One (certainly not the only!) of the potential problems with Olestra is
that, being a fat, it absorbs beta carotene.    Unless it's already
saturated with beta carotene when eaten (which it currently definately is
NOT) it will absorb some of the beta carotene from whatever else is present
in your gut at the time.   Because the Olestra is not absorbed, it, and
whatever beta carotene it has absorbed will be extreted,  thereby reducting
your  intake of beta carotene.    Beta carotene is a very important
nutrient (antioxidant) which numerous studies*1 have shown to have a
pronounced protective effect against carcinogens and other toxic elements.
Reducing its intake is almost certain to have a negative impact on some
individuals.
 
In addition it can cause diahrrea in some individuals.   And celiacs know
what THAT can do!
 
My advice:   Skip the Olestra and cut down on fat!
 
Jim Barron
Chapel Hill NC
[log in to unmask]
 
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*1     One study (as, so far as I know, ONLY one study) has shown a
negative effect of SLIGHTLY (barely statistically significant)  increasing
the rate of some cancers BUT THIS EFFECT WAS PRESENT ONLY in very long term
smokers.   NO study has shown negative effects of beta carotene in
non-smokers.
          WARNING:  personal untested speculation follows.
 It is, IMHO (in my humble opinion) likey that this effect in smokers is
caused by an excess of beta carotene **in a supplement form without the
usual accompanying co-factors*** (as was done in the study) speeding up an
initial step in a detoxification process and causing a bottleneck at an
intermediate step because cofactors necessary for a subsequent step are not
present in correspondingly large amounts.    Such a bottleneck could cause
an accumulation of an highly toxic intermediate product which would
ordinairily be present in only extremely small amounts because it is
quickly processed further into a non-toxic end product by the cofactors
normally ingested along with beta carotene but not present in the
supplements**2.    Studies have shown that smokers, on the average, have a
much lower intake of beta carotene containing foods than non-smokers and
thus they would presumably have a much lower level of accompanying
co-factors than would non-smokers taking beta carotene supplements.
 
So the net result in smokers could be an accumulation of large amounts of
an intermediate product that could be much more toxic than the toxin being
processed**3!  This would explain the increase in cancer caused in smokers
(but NOT in non-smokers) by taking beta carotene supplments.  Of course the
non-smokers would also probably have little or none of that particular
toxin to deal with!  (This is only (so far as I know) my theory - does
anyone know of anything implausable about it?)
 
==============
**2   Thus the problem is not taking supplements.   It is in depending on
supplements alone to do the job without a reasonable amount of cofactors
from the diet
**3  There are know examples of intermediate products being more toxic than
the toxins being detoxified.   This is not a problem IF the intermediate is
passed quickly to the next step and so does not accumulate.