Have Your Cake -- and Eat It Too

By Anastasia Toufexis

A Manhattan executive who is watching his waistline burst out of his office as soon as he heard the news. "Now can I eat what I want?" he plaintively asked a colleague. "Is this the stuff I've been waiting for?" Those were the questions on the tongues of food lovers across the country last week after the introduction of the latest "miracle" additive: a fat substitute that is said to be low calorie, cholesterol free, all natural and safe. The new product, called Simplesse, is produced by the NutraSweet Co., makers of aspartame, America's most popular artificial sweetener, and it promises to do for fattening foods what aspartame did for high-calorie soft drinks, namely create a have-all-you-want splurge.

The fake fat is made of protein from milk and egg whites that is heated and whipped into microscopic globules. The tiny, flavorless spheres -- 50 billion to the teaspoon -- mimic the texture of fat particles, claims NutraSweet. Says Food Scientist Norman Singer, who discovered the new substance: "The particles are so round and smooth that they roll over the tongue just like marbles in a glass." Adds Robert Shapiro, chairman of the company based in Skokie, Ill.: "This creates the smoothness and richness we know as fat -- it's really an illusion of the taste buds."

That slip of the tongue saves calories: while fat contains nine calories a gram, Simplesse has only 1 1/3. Thus two scoops of ice cream, which contain a hefty 283 calories when made with cream, have only 130 when made with ( Simplesse. NutraSweet also foresees its fat substitute being used in salad dressings, mayonnaise, yogurt, butter and cheese spreads. The product's drawback: it cannot be used in frying or baking because intense heat distorts the shape of the globules.

At first the company contended that because Simplesse is made from natural ingredients that are changed only in physical form during processing, it did not require approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The only real health concern, explained company officials, is for people who are allergic to milk and eggs. NutraSweet insisted that the fat substitute qualified for the agency's GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) list and that Simplesse products would reach supermarket shelves in twelve to 18 months.

Maybe. But while last week's announcement delighted dieters and sent stock soaring in Monsanto, NutraSweet's parent company, it left a sour taste at the FDA. Within hours of Simplesse's debut, FDA Commissioner Frank Young fired off an irate letter to Chairman Shapiro complaining about the company's "unilateral judgment that the product is safe" and summoning officials to the agency. "The FDA is not going to prejudge the product," says Young. "We're just going to get the facts and determine whether it's safe or not. If it's as simple as they say, and as safe as they say, it's not a complicated procedure." At week's end NutraSweet agreed to submit data to the FDA to apply for GRAS status.

In all likelihood Simplesse will have an easier time getting through the regulatory maze than another fat substitute that is already under review, Procter & Gamble's olestra. A synthetic compound blended from sugar and vegetable oil and known as a sucrose polyester, it has no cholesterol and no calories. Because olestra molecules are too large to be broken down by digestive enzymes, they simply pass through the body without being absorbed into the bloodstream. Unlike Simplesse, the Procter & Gamble product can be fried and baked; such sinful goodies as potato chips, French fries and cookies can all be made using cooking oil with olestra. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer group based in Washington, however, has petitioned the FDA to reject olestra, charging that it causes leukemia, tumors, liver damage and birth defects in laboratory rats.

Fat substitutes are just one of a dazzling array of phony foods that are on the horizon. The FDA will soon approve the marketing of a fake flour called ! fluffy cellulose that is made by bleaching and plumping the husks of grains. Developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and to be sold to bread and pastry makers under the name Snowite, it is rich in fiber but has no calories. Buttermist, a whipped butter substitute in a pressurized can, will reach supermarkets in a few weeks. Based on a technology that extracts the flavor from natural butter, the product has no cholesterol, no fat and only seven calories for each half a fluid ounce. Farther down the food pike is a new version of common sugar. Though chemically identical to the natural sweetener, structurally it is the mirror image and thus cannot be metabolized by the human body. Voila, no calories.

The blitz of new products seem to promise new dimensions of guilt-free gluttony, a message health-conscious consumers have been quick to seize. "I can't wait to eat all the fun foods and still fit into my clothes," exults Secretary Beverly Hearn of Cincinnati. "Soon we'll be able to eat all kinds of no-nos with no adverse effects," beams Helmar Cooper, an actor in New York City. "That will be an eternal holiday."

Alas, such vacations are only temporary. Additives like Simplesse, nutritionists warn, are no magic bullet for preventing diet-related ills like heart disease or obesity. Consumers need to remember that it is not just calories, cholesterol or fat content they should be concerned about when it comes to food, but its nutrient value. "The problem with these products," notes Professor Audrey Cross of Columbia University's School of Public Health, "is that they may move people away from eating more healthy foods. If they believe that they can eat more ice cream, they might do that instead of eating fresh fruit. And clearly, when compared, the fresh fruit wins. Americans want simple solutions," she sighs, "to have their cake and eat it too. Well, they can -- but just sometimes."

With reporting by Andrea Sachs and Raji Samghabadi/New York