Olestra was discovered 30 years ago by the Procter and Gamble company.  Thirty years ago they began testing the safety of its food additive.  Once they had compiled over 150,00 pages of data, they petitioned the Food and Drug Adminstration for approval for the widespread use of olestra.  The FDA then spent over nine years looking into the additive on their own.  This is the most time ever spent reviewing a food additive in the history of the organiztion.  After the exhaustive studies, the report contained the following statements:
                            "The working group unanimously concluded that, in all four areas, the relevant issues had been identified and the data were sufficient to address the relevant issues."
                            "...the  working group also agreed that the data provided...certainty of no harm from olestra."
    Currently some people are contending that the effects of olestra are harmful due mainly to decreased absorption of carotenoids and the ability of olestra to solubilize vitamins A,D,E, and K that are consumed simultaneously.  Both these claims are now moot points.  The developers of the additive have saturated it with the aforementioned vitamins.  No scientific evidience exists at all about the health implications of the family of chemicals called carotenoids.
    After olestra's initial review, the FDA called a 30 month review to study the most current findings.  Again olestra was determined to be safe and the warning label was decreased in severity.
    The FDA will continue to check up on olestra in the same manner and will no doubt continue to approve its use.
 
 

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