Olestra is a fat substitute that recently became available. It tastes like ordinary fats and is used to make some snack products, such as fat-free potato chips. The body does not absorb olestra and excretes it in stool. Abnormal amount of fat in the stool is known as steatorrhea.
Steatorrhea occurs in diseases that cause problems with how a person absorbs nutrients from food.
It is not known whether olestra excreted in stool interferes as fat to produce positive results on tests for steatorrhea. The researchers wanted to find out how high the fat content was in the stool of people who eat olestra-containing foods. 10 healthy volunteers. For 6 days in a row, study subjects ate 5 ounces of regular potato chips each day. For the next 6 days, they ate 5 ounces of chips made with olestra.