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Hello everyone,

(I've delurked...)

Today I saw a news report on ABC  about how some people are having bad
reactions to eating chips containing Olestra, the  controversial "fake fat"
that was recently approved by the FDA for use in processed foods.  It seems
that Frito Lay is currently test marketing Doritos and other chips in several
cities around the USA, and these chips were made using olestra instead of fat
for frying.  According to the news report, more than 60 people reported
getting sick enough to document their illness in writing, with one woman
describing it as "being as bad as labor pains."

Does anyone know whether the FDA considered the reactions of people with
celiac disease and other gastrointestinal disorders in their approvals of
olestra?  When I hear the descriptions of what it feels like to get sick on
olestra, it sounds like familiar misery.  Not that those people reacting have
celiac disease or any other gastrointestinal disorder.  But I do sometimes
wonder about trigger events.  I've read somewhere that eating large
quantities of gluten-containing food can be a trigger event for people
predisposed to developing celiac disease.  And that there are other trigger
events, from stress to infectious diseases.

I guess that I'm wondering whether eating olestra can be a trigger event for
developing full-blown celiac disease, and whether the FDA considers it
important that food items containing olestra (and/or its future siblings) be
adequately tested for people with gastrointestinal disorders.

Does anyone know?  I guess I'm just curious...

Sue