Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 23, 1994 TAG: 9408230100
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TORONTO NOTE: BELOW LENGTH: Medium
Low-fat foods are unlikely to shrink waistlines because people often compensate by eating more of other foods, studies show.
The low-fat foods are more likely to help people reduce the fat content of their diets, said Barbara Rolls, a nutrition scientist at Pennsylvania State University.
Reducing overall calories is crucial for weight loss. But reducing calories from fat at least trims people's risk of heart disease, she said Monday. Rolls has been studying fat substitutes, which are used to create low-fat versions of dairy products, baked goods and snack foods.
In a separate study, G. Harvey Anderson of the University of Toronto reported that artificial sweeteners also have done little to reduce obesity, although they are useful in helping dieters stay on track.
The studies were reported at the Seventh International Congress on Obesity, which runs through Thursday.
Anderson also attacked the widespread perception that sugar and sweet foods are unhealthy, noting that many people who avoid sweets compensate by eating more fat.
``I think we've misled people by saying sugar is bad,'' said Anderson, a nutrition scientist. ``America's sweet tooth may be essential to its health.''
Putting sugar on cereal, for example, is a good way to deliver fiber and other nutritional benefits to children, he said. Sugar helps make carbohydrates taste good. In avoiding sugar, people often substitute fat to improve the taste of carbohydrates, he said.
Furthermore, studies have shown that sugar suppresses appetite better than fat, reducing the likelihood that people will overeat, he said.
Rolls has most recently been studying an experimental, calorie-free fat called olestra, made by Procter & Gamble Co. Olestra is awaiting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in snack foods.
``I've tasted the olestra potato chips, and they're indistinguishable from regular potato chips,'' even leaving oil on the fingertips, she said. ``It's like magic.''
Rolls expects overwhelming consumer demand for olestra products once they're on the market, but she's concerned about their effects. If people use them as an excuse to eat more of something else, there may be no benefit whatsoever, she said.
But her studies as well as others suggest that people may compensate by eating more carbohydrates, which would improve their health. Americans currently consume about 36 percent of their calories as fat. The government's National Cholesterol Education Program recommends that no more than 30 percent of calories come from fat.
John Peters, a nutritional biochemist at Procter & Gamble, said the studies done so far have been on lean people, who are obviously good at regulating their food intake according to what their bodies need.
Obese people, whose intake of food bears less relation to their dietary needs, may derive more benefit from low-fat foods.
``We believe they will not only reduce fat intake, but also reduce calories,'' he said. ``They might get a double benefit.''
He also said that snacks made with olestra could help prevent the gradual upward drift of weight in middle-aged people. ``I don't think people are going to lose weight, but the degree of increase in body weight in those middle years may lessen,'' he said.
Nabisco, Arco, Dow Corning and Frito-Lay are among other companies developing fat substitutes.
by CNB