For these or similar reasons light-food has become extremely popular in the industrialized nations. At
last, food manufacturers have complied with the demands made by nutritional scientists and dieticians to
produce foods with fewer calories. Consumers feel relieved that the new food is fat-free and without
sugar, and instead contains fat substitutes, water and artificial sweeteners. This saves massive amounts of
calories. And by adding artificial flavors to the food and using other forms of chemical manipulation, the
taste buds believe that it is the real thing. Man seems to have finally succeeded in creating the ideal food
for man; at least this is what the majority of consumers have started to believe.
However, the theory that eating low fat or fat-free food is healthy turned out to be one big fat lie. An
eight-year study of 48,835 women published in February 2006 by the Journal of the American Medical
Association found that the study participants failed to lose a measurable amount of weight on the low-fat
diet. To the contrary, most of them remained overweight which put them at an even greater risk for
cardiovascular disease despite following their low-fat regimen. In addition, the study showed that low-fat
diets had zero health benefits in regard to avoiding the risk of getting cancer and heart disease. The study
cost the American taxpayers $415 million, but this money seems to have been wasted. The mass media,
medical industry and food manufacturers have not taken much notice of this important finding. In the
meanwhile, the low-fat hysteria continues to escalate.
“Light Fats” And Their “Amazing” Effects
Take for instance “light-butter” or half-fat butter, which has been heralded as one of the greatest
“achievements” of food technology so far. In this high-tech product, at least half of the fat content of
butter is replaced with water. It tastes like butter, it spreads like butter and it melts like butter in the
mouth, but in reality it is mostly water. To turn water into butter, you have to mix it with a thickening
agent like gelatin, an emulsifier that permits mixing fat with water, and then add artificial coloring,
aromas, and preservatives. It is difficult, though, for a layperson to detect from the labels whether a
product has been manipulated in this way. Still there is one way to find out. Place the light butter or light
margarine in your frying pan and see what happens. The artificial fats quickly disintegrate and turn into
what they really are — mostly water.
However, not all food imitations can be enriched with water. Fat-free salad dressings contain modified
starch as a fat substitute. Principally being very dry by nature, starch (mostly cornstarch) is treated with
hydrochloric acid and enzymes derived from mold. The end product leaves you with the feeling of cream
in the mouth. The same can be achieved by using cheap protein and other carbohydrates. The products
have fancy names such as “Trailblazer,” and Nutrifat PC and have already been on the U.S. market for
several years.
“Olestra” is the name of a pseudo-fat that has been approved for sale on the U.S. market to fill the gap
for zero-cholesterol fat. The pseudo-fat mimics the properties of ordinary fats, with a similar “mouth-feel”
and taste. Fat-free chips, diet-friendly crisps, and cholesterol-lowering tortillas can now be staples in the
otherwise fatty American diet. It seems wonderful to be able to have all these “naughty” foods and not
become fat or risk heart disease. The only problem with this non-physiological food is its side effects.
The pseudo-fat can actually cause substantial anal leakage and diarrhea. It is as indigestible as plastic,
which means it comes out completely unaltered. To prevent the product from becoming unpopular, the
manufacturers have now added an “anti-anal leakage agent,” a mixture that slows the elimination of the
oil from the large intestine.
One of the more serious side effects of such products is that they are capable of removing the fat-
soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K from the body as they pass through the intestinal tract. For this reason,
U.S. food manufacturers are required to fortify their olestra-containing products with all these vitamins;