Food Lipids: Chemistry, Nutrition, and Biotechnology

genetic assay in Chinese hamster ovary cells (74). When heated, sucrose polyester–
vegetable oil blends were fed at 5% level to rats for 91 days, there were no toxic
effects detected upon hematological and histomorphology evaluation (72). Excellent
reviews on the regulatory aspects, labeling, and safety requirements of fat substitutes
are available (2,9,73,77).
The current FDA approval for olestra is only for use in ready-to-eat savory or
salty snacks and not sweet snacks (51). It can be used up to 100% replacement for
conventional fats in flavored and unflavored extruded snacks and crackers. Olestra
can be used in frying, dough conditioners, oil sprays, and flavors in savory snacks.
It cannot be used in other foods, including fat-free cakes and french fries. A separate
petition would have to be filed for each additional use in the future, and each such
product would be subjected to the same regulatory approval process. The major
factors considered by the FDA and before the ruling on olestra use in savory snacks
is summarized in Table 10.
VII. APPLICATIONS OF SUCROSE ESTERS
Sucrose fatty acid esters are sugar esters with a lower degree of substitution or
esterification (DS 1–3). Sucrose fatty acid esters are FDA-approved and are currently
marketed by Mitsubishi Chemical America, Inc. (White Plains, NY) and Crodesta,
Inc. (New York). They are digestible and absorbable and can be used as emulsifiers
and as lubricating, wetting or dispersion, solubilization, stabilization, anticaking, antimicrobial,
or viscosity-reducing agents, in baking or as coatings for bananas, apples,
pears, pineapples, and so on. Alkyl glycoside mono- and diesters can be used for
similar applications. Table 5 shows some functional uses of sucrose fatty acid esters.
The concentrations of SFE added to foods may range from 0.005% to 10%.
VIII. APPLICATIONS OF SYNTHETIC FAT SUBSTITUTES
Carbohydrate polyesters such as sucrose polyester has the potential to lower cholesterol
levels in certain lipid disorders (50,52,53). Daily substitution of fat with 30 g
of SPE will reduce caloric intake by 270 calories. Grundy et al. (50) reported that
SPEs were tolerated by diabetic patients at a maximum of 90 g/day when total caloric
intake was reduced to 1000 kcal/day. Thus, SPEs and other carbohydrate polyesters
may be used for therapeutic weight reduction (47). They have the benefit of adding
bulk to the diet without adding calories. Consumption of carbohydrate polyesters
may benefit persons at high risk for coronary heart disease, colon cancer, and obesity
(47,65). Table 8 lists some nutritional uses and applications of nondigestible fat
substitutes.
Carbohydrate fatty acid polyesters are poor surfactants for O/W emulsions
when used alone, but when blended with other emulsifiers or SFEs, they exhibit
synergistic effects (2). Food made with SPE has 10–50% fewer calories than food
made with regular oils and shortenings. For example, an order of french fries prepared
with 100% SPE contains about 144 calories, 52.7% less than the same item
with conventional oil. Thus, SPEs can be used for cooking, frying, and baking. They
are useful in dairy products, spreads, dressings, margarines, sauces, confectioneries,
and dessert manufacture.
Copyright 2002 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.