Whatever your decision, keep in mind that an occasional olestra-containing snack will probably not do any lasting harm. Switching to fake-fat, however, is not the answer to good nutrition. What's more, you cannot automatically lower your guard once you've switched to these lower-fat alternatives. Studies have shown that people who eat reduced-fat foods tend to compensate for lost calories by having more to eat. Naturally-occurring fats in our foods come packaged in the form of triglycerides.
All triglycerides share the same structure.
Our body has digestive enzymes that are specifically designed to work on triglycerides. These fat-digesting enzymes separate the fats from the backbone so that they're small enough to pass through the absorptive surface of the intestines. Olestra is a synthetic molecule with a much-larger sucrose backbone and it has at least 6, as opposed to three fatty acids attached. This greater size confounds the body's fat-digesting enzymes and the Olestra molecule passes through the digestive system intact and unabsorbed.