Olestra | The Miracle Fat Substitute That Became a Pop-Culture Punchline

[@postmodernrecycler]

Ate an entire bag once for lunch (poor college student meal), then went to a movie with a friend. 30 minutes in I felt like the biggest fart of my life was coming, so I ducked out to let it rip, and instead I had a devastating ass-plosion in my light colored pants. I walked sideways with my back to the wall of the lobby and made it to my friend's car with burrito glop running down my pant legs. Because this was before cell phones, I couldn't even tell him what happened or that I had to leave, so I'm stuck waiting by the car for 2 hours with a hot load in my shorts turning cold and crusty and no way to do anything. He finally comes out to the car, fuming pissed at me, until I explained everything, which of course became a source of unending LOLs for the rest of our acquaintance. We drove back, me sitting on the rubber side of a floormat, which I wear over my ass like a mudflap to go up to my apartment with God and everybody watching and certainly knowing what happened. Those pants went straight to the outside trash and he tells me to keep the floormat--he does NOT want it back. "WOW!" really does describe these chips.

[@SY-ok2dq]

I laughed so hard at your very realistic description! And your friend telling you to keep the mat! Those chips must have had a lot more Olestra. Or the bags were large. I ate a whole can of Olestra Pringles and didn't really have any issues, that I can remember. It did speed up your time to do a no.2 though. And it caused an oily orange slick in the toilet. Scared me out of getting any more Olestra stuff when I saw that. They tasted pretty good as I recall though. I mean like regular chips.

[@carmengomez3748]

Your story is both horrible and hilarious. I guess you can laugth now but at the time it must be a nigthmare

[@kirbyculp3449]

"...wear over my ass like a mudflap..." Lawdy, I was laughing so hard that my eyes were tearing up! You have my sympathy friend for the most obvious reason, tho' it warn't the Olestra for me.

[@Staxovwax]

This was not before cell phones. Most people had cell phones

[@postmodernrecycler]

@@Staxovwax It was the late '90s. Nobody I knew had them, but we were all teenagers. A couple of us had pagers, ha ha.

[@meh_lady]

OMG, we served these at a party and everyone was so excited to try them. They tasted great and we inhaled a couple bags, so stoked to have guilt-free fat. It was as the height of the fat-free craze. You’ll have to forgive me, but I was a victim of circumstance and history. From first and second hand reports, the next day didn’t go so well for many of us. 😬

[@christianhansen3292]

toilet needed to start charging you rent for clinging to it soo long! haha

[@MK_ULTRA420]

@@christianhansen3292 Yeah but the pay is sh*t. *[LAUGH TRACK]*

[@CoasterMan13Official]

Of course the next day wasn't so good. Your bunghole blew out from eating those olestra chips.

[@mericanignoranc3551]

I hope you've learned to never trust an Capitalist .

[@mattybhoy6522]

Lol that's sounds horrible 😂

[@Melissa0774]

These chips came out around the time I was in 7th grade and my science teacher at the time, who was in her 70's, told us that there were always a lot of new food fads and when a new product like this comes out, you should always wait to try it until it's been around long enough to see if there are going to be any long term affects. I remember we might have also been talking about Dolly the cloned sheep in class to, at the time. I had no idea how prophetic, what she said, was going to end up being.

[@MegaZeta]

Exactly. This video tries its best to stay objective, and I laud it for that... but the 2003 FDA that attacked the 1996 FDA's findings, and removed the warning labels, was a heavily partisan and nepotistic agency that preferred politics to medicine. 1996's FDA was run by a pediatrician trusted (and appointed) by both parties.

[@forestcityfishing4749]

Just like unknown jabs from these same people? Funny how thats reasonable when talking about chips...but not an injection?

[@Diwasho]

But if you wait too long the product might cease selling and you'll miss out on a piece of history. I'd hate to miss out on Crystal Pepsi, I mean, it was never sold in my country so I never tried it but if it was around and I made a conscious decision to wait, only for it to be pulled from the shelves before I knew it, then I'd regret it for the rest of my life.

[@Melissa0774]

@@Diwasho Yeah, but if they stopped selling it so soon, there must have been something wrong with it. If it's really that good of a product, it'll stick around. They never intended to get rid of Olestra. It was supposed to be a permanent change to the way potato chips were made.

[@ashblossomandjoyoussprung.9917]

@@Diwasho I think there's a difference between a limited-time flavor and a whole new product.

[@happycook6737]

Those chips! My friend and I decided to go Christmas shopping at an outlet mall 1 hour away. She brought a bag of THOSE new chips along telling me eat as much as I want because it was not fattening as it used a new type of fat. I had never tried them before. We ate a family sized bag in the car on the way there because they tasted very normal. Needless to say the results were disasterous within a few hours. My belly cramps, I felt incredibly gassy and when I tried to get some relief I realized I had a #2 accident. In fact #2 leaked out nearly continuously. We both were very affected. Ruined the shopping trip. We stopped at so many gas stations. I ended up asking for a plastic shopping bag at the gas station quick Mart. Sat on it to avoid soiling her car seat. We had ALL the car windows down in the dead of winter. It was awful and very painful 😖. So embarrassing. We didn't know it was the chips. I assumed it was stomach flu we had shared while eating the chips as we both put our hands in the bag. I missed 2 days of work due to symptoms. I didn't eat chips for a long while after that but then heard it was that olestra. I still don't eat chips.

[@ascendantindigo271]

Please tell me how elite level "Medical Professionals" were "NOT" aware of this side effect, before selling this shit to the public ?

[@matthewmcree1992]

This anecdote made me absolutely die laughing. I'm sorry you went through that, but wow it sounds like everyone had a bad experience with Olestra. It makes me glad I never tried it back in the day (because of the anal leakage comments all over TV at the time).

[@ascendantindigo271]

@@matthewmcree1992 I wouldn't doubt that Lays had a major stock in toilet paper at that particular time. Every time a whole country of people get sick, somebody else makes a ton of money. It's sickening..... [pun intended]

[@happycook6737]

@@matthewmcree1992 We still laugh about it but at the time we couldn't laugh due to #2 explosions. She asked me on the highway, "Should I try to speed a little?" My reply, "No because if we get pulled over I don't know if I can hold it that long!" 🤦

[@boobgoogler]

In fairness you can’t gain weight if you just shit it all out

[@MegaZeta]

"Warning label" to "no warning label", from 1996 to 2003, reflected the change of a pediatric specialist as FDA head in 1996, a bipartisan appointee, to a business professor in 2003... who also happened to be the press secretary's brother. McClellan's FDA (the no-label-needed crew) infamously made decisions _prior_ to investigation.

[@danieldorn9989]

And now we got that mess with the vaccine data being kept secret for 75 years... I can only imagine what we will know in a few years.

[@mysticalpineapple7263]

Interesting

[@chromicapop4595]

then we have later fda's incomitance on regulating food born illness taskforces on produce

[@RunningEagle2011]

They should've marketed these as a tasty ExLax alternative 😋

[@alashiadiggs4195]

🤣🤣

[@kbbrown8154]

You're on to something surprisingly unrecognised all these years.

[@LittleMissSunshine721]

If someone does this in the near future, we’ll know they saw your comment!

[@kitsunegiblaze8022]

So today I bought some Altoids Wintergreen Mints in the small tin. These had Xylitol, which I didn't know. Wanna know what ELSE I didn't know??? XYLITOL CAUSES WATER TO GET PULLED INTO YOUR INTESTINES..... now, guess what the result of water in your intestines is..... 40 minutes of the squirts. I thought that I was dying. I thought I had gotten E. Coli from some bad meat. NOPE! It was the Xylitol in the mints!!!!

[@kirbyculp3449]

Marketing genius!

[@benjaminrichardsiix8057]

When I was a kid I'd often lie about my age to take part in marketing surveys at the local mall for $10 a pop. One of them was for Olestra, specifically the warning labels. I pointed out that the phrase "anal leakage" on a bag of chips might not be very appetizing. I told all my friends, and they thought I'd made the whole thing up until about a year later when Olestra hit the streets.

[@SY-ok2dq]

I think the fish called escolar is sold with a similar warning in some places, and is outright banned for human consumption in some countries. It has a similar type of natural fat/oil that can't be digested and passes straight through. I remember being alarmed by the ring of orangey oil in the toilet bowl after eating a can of Olestra Pringles. I thought there was something wrong with me until I heard about the effects if Olestra. I didn't notice much gas or distress, or any leakage, but it did make things pass out quickly.

[@benjaminrichardsiix8057]

@@SY-ok2dq It's a damn tasty fish too. Shame about the "wax esters". I can eat it just fine, my wife, not so much.

[@snickle1980]

@@benjaminrichardsiix8057 😮Are you also one of the rare people who has a normal stomach? Can you also eat taco bell, beer and ice cream in the same night? Growing up in the 90s, all of my friends has issues mixing certain foods, or eating fast food in particular. They'd also have issues eating spicy foods. In fact, most people i know do...All those taco bell jokes that i never can relate to. ...not that i Want to crap myself from eating a taco, but you get the jist. Do I have super powers? Even olestra was no match for this stomach. 😁

[@forestcityfishing4749]

Uncle Rays chips still has that Anal leakage effect going on

[@jayjones5756]

We got the chips in the mail before they hit the streets. I threw them away when I saw the loose stool warning. My city was targeted for market research.

[@AtticusGrim]

My parents were always pretty strict with my diet and even when this stuff came out we didn't have it in the house, but I do remember "fat free" haribo gummy bears nearly killing me in a similar way once I left home.

[@phoenixfritzinger9185]

Oh no not the sugar free gummy bears Those things should be like banned under the Geneva Convention

[@archive881]

Sorbitol, candy companies use it as an artificial sweetener. . . doctors prescribe it as a laxative!

[@linziRyan1965]

Sugar free gummy bears cause horrible diarrhea

[@archive881]

@@linziRyan1965 Not to mention flatulence that could blister paint and kill house plants. 🤢

[@cliffhamilton2857]

They still make them last time I checked too, but the effects are well known by now.

[@LargeAlbatross]

I was in some kind of test group for olestra. You were to eat 3 small identical numbered bags of classic potato chips and then record your findings at certain intervals, and finally name the bag that contained olestra and for some of them there was also sunflower oil. The olestra caused havoc with my insides and there was an oily orange discharge. I pooped myself without even realizing it just sitting on the couch. doesn't matter. got $200.

[@petermitchell2729]

Thankyou for your sacrifice 🫡

[@spitfire3984]

I was a teenager when this came out and I remember my friend and I eating an entire bag while watching a movie. Fast forward a few hours and I could’ve shat through a window screen. I’ll never forget the orange oily remnants in the toilet. It was terrible.

[@NewMessage]

I'm just disappointed that the word didn't get out from a Corporate Leaker.

[@rookwall8697]

Good one

[@SolomonMars]

I'm proud of you.

[@tearosy]

LOL 😂😂

[@breakthecycle5238]

internet award

[@kieranmclaughlin8920]

Funny. 😂

[@wesscotchdog9078]

I remember trying that for a week...all kinds of products, and no lie it meant squirting out orange oil slicks. Settled on the bowl and smeared around like what you see settled on the top of a greasy pizza. Wiping was a cruel joke.

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

that sounds ungodly

[@deakon071]

God, your description brings back memories. Couldn't have said it any better

[@XMattingly]

Hahahaha, WOW that’s vivid. 😂

[@stinkyfungus]

If you want to revisit that for nostalgia - get your self a slab of escolar (also marketed as white tuna, walu, or oil fish) Grill that up and enjoy... its delicious. As sashimi, grilled, or sauteed... it is a rich, buttery, melt in your mouth fish. But god help you if you eat too much (more than 4 ounces is "too much" for some people, I can do up to 8 and be ok... usually) Anyway, it'll cause Keriorrhea (look that up on google if you want) if you eat more than your body can handle. Same as olean did

[@lapislazarus8899]

@@stinkyfungus you sound like you'd be a blast to hang out with. "Wanna go do something fun?!?"

[@aubreyandsarahstanfield4326]

Absolutely loving this channel, keep up the great work guys

[@RoseRose-hp4rq]

Canadian viewer here. On a trip to Florida in 1998 my brother and I consumed an entire bag of olestra ruffles poolside. Hours later, while swimming, I sharted through my bathing suit and was surrounded by Brown murky waters and experiencing the dreaded intestinal distress. To this day, we still laugh about it.

[@CommodoreFan64]

I was in high school in 98, and my older sister was going to community college, and working a part time job while still living at home with our parents, and I remember her buying a bag of the WoW! chips as she was on a diet ( don't know why, as she's always been skinny except when pregnant), and she had the symptoms after plowing through a bag, ended up missing 3 days of work, and school from it. I'm just glad I never ate the stuff myself YIKES!!!

[@WhatAboutZoidberg]

Definitely tried the WoW chips and yes, they had the side effects you described. They were decent chips but after one or two bags you'd pretty much ruled out any other causes. My brother's friend REALLY took a liking to one flavor and just ate them despite the side effects. He was actually sad when they were discontinued.

[@BushidoBrownSama]

I didn't have any problems with them & i ate a bag of wow doritos weekly at the time

[@colleenroyle588]

@@BushidoBrownSama me too!! loved all these chips and never had any side effects and i ate a lot of them!!

[@The_Conspiracy_Analyst]

Let me ask you something: have you compared it to the shits you get after consuming 2 giant bags of "normal" chips? I mean come on, let's be fair here!

[@admiralrustyshackleford119]

I was a teenager in the late 90s, I remember my mom buying them WOW Doritos a couple times. As I recall they didn't taste too bad. They weren't exactly the same as standard Doritos, if I didn't know they were some new fancy fat free chips I would of thought they were just a generic Doritos knockoff, there wasn't anything too overly weird about them taste or texture wise. I never had any issues with "leakage", but they definitely didn't agree with my guts. I remember plowing through about 2/3s of a bag when I had the afternoon munchies, all was well for maybe an hour or so and then the gurgling started... I sprinted to the bathroom for what was basically a photo finish as I gave anal birth to what looked like a gallon of gravy. Not only did they help ya lose weight by being fat free, they also evacuated every ounce of liquid out of your body all at once... 😳💩🤮💩🤮🥴🤔

[@artcraft2893]

Leakage never vas confirmed in medical studies. So it was urban legend > kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZWbk5KlndGWms0

[@_Frank_the_Tank]

Sounds just like my experience with the fat free chips. They tasted alright, all was well for about an hour, and then I found myself running full speed for the toilet... Apparently I didn't learn my lesson the first time around, sugar free gummy worms got me in the exact same way a few years later.

[@stormisuedonym4599]

... As I'm eating a bag of Doritos.

[@kieranmclaughlin8920]

Pmsl. 😂

[@SuV33358]

"a gallon of gravy" That is an effective visual description. Good job

[@lizd.8655]

My dad worked at Frito Lay for 20 years and we grew up tasting all the new products before they were rolled out nationally. At the same time, my uncle worked at Pillsbury so it's not surprising that our families had obesity issues!

[@Turbotef]

Back 2003-2005 they were still selling Pringles with Olestra and I loved the damn things (they didn't make me go randomly) but that didn't stop my cousin from making a funny jingle everytime he saw me eating a can while playing videogames: "Once you pop, that shit don't stop!" lol

[@gcanyon3114]

Someone needs to invent zero or low saturated fat baked treats. It's depressing when I look at the label for a SINGLE chocolate chip cookie and it has over half of a days worth of fat.... and I feel like I could eat 5 of those cookies.

[@jonsturgill8868]

I choked on my coffee at the phrase "bathroom violence". Thanks for the near death experience!

[@MohawkPotatoSA]

When I was in 7th grade we went on a weekend class trip, my friend brought a bag of Olestra ruffle chips, we ate them in our hotel room. The next day at the colonial village we were visiting we all had the worst farts of our lives. It was the worst day of my young life at the time as I tried to avoid the girl I had a crush on.

[@therealunicornselene]

_using fat to treat cholesterol issues is the kind of old school out of the box common sense that I like hearing about, thank you_

[@russpendley1850]

As an American consumer, I have never trusted "fat free", "low sodium", and anything zero or diet. It all means some form substitution. Idk thats just me though.

[@iCarus_A]

recently there's been some "low/no sugar" beverage where actually no (or few) sweetening ingredients are added. (bubly, hint, to name a few) Low-fat milk is also supposedly better because they just mix in less fat into the skim milk as it separates before homogenizing. I think the danger lies in when people expect "low sodium" products to taste as savory as full sodium counterparts, or that "no sugar" drinks are supposed to taste sweet regardless. You can't have your cake and eat it too, but there are healthier alternatives.

[@maywalker997]

Most of the fat free goods have really high salt and sugar contents, making them not healthy at all.

[@kerrbear1980]

Agreed. Abstaining is the only real solution. All those things are altered in some way or another.

[@AsmodeusMictian]

@@kerrbear1980 Excuse me, I'm an American. What's this "abstaining" you speak of? Hang on, let me get my 44oz soda, 1/2lb hamburger, and grande sized fries first. ;-)

[@lookoutforchris]

None of it is good in the first place.

[@JohnSmith-sk7cg]

Yeah I tried a small amount. I knew what the potential consequences could be, but I was curious. And yes, it's like poopin' oatmeal.

[@ozone-xv7hk]

Thanks for your sacrifice 😂

[@xijinpingsfavoritehemorrho1328]

As wilford brimley would say, "shitting quaker oats: its the right thing to do."

[@Ashley-xu1lk]

This sounds pretty dangerous. For the past 6 months I was suffering from gallstones, which means I had to watch my fat consumption or else I would experience a gallbladder attack and would need to be taken to the ER. I was able to eat a very small portion of junk food without reprecussions (i.e. a chocolate chip cookie or a single serving size of chips). But if these chips were still around and I ate some, thinking that they wouldn't harm me, and end up with major digestive issues on top of what I was already suffering because of the stones, I would be so angry.

[@pakkmann]

Olestra was dope. Didn't affect me at all... tasted amazing compared to other low-fat things. But hey tough to get over the hump if too many people be tooting!

[@Biscuitman3000]

Helped me lose 200 pounds. I had a major chip dependency and addiction. I didn’t poop anymore than I normally did I wish they would come back

[@beboshi69]

Shocking it is illegal to use this in the UK and we waste our time promoting 0 sugar drinks instead.

[@HayTatsuko]

OIestra was a lot like those infamous sugar-free Haribo gummy bears* you've probably heard about. They are fine in moderation, but eat too much -- or be too sensitive!, and you are in for a bad belly and bottom time. * and most any other sugar-free candies that also use sugar alcohols!

[@ladymacbethofmtensk896]

If you are going to eat sweets in moderation, you might as well eat the ones made with real sugar and real fat.

[@HayTatsuko]

​@@ladymacbethofmtensk896 Unless one is diabetic. The blood-glucose spike and its attendant mental and physical symptoms are, are least for me, very much not worth the brief enjoyment of real sugar -- even in modest doses. I'm fine with sugar alcohols and non-nutritive sweeteners because I know they won't make me feel logy later on.

[@jd9119]

@@HayTatsuko Most diabetics are type-2. If those people would ever practice moderation, they wouldn't be fat diabetic pigs.

[@CalTheHogNosedBat]

My friend ate some of those chips in an elevator, took that shit to the next level.

[@lastotallyawesomebleach204]

How does this comment not have more likes?

[@RT-mm8rq]

They knew full well about the problems with olestra, but what it came down to was they felt it wasn't overall harmful and they needed to recoup all that money from developing it, some revenue was better than nothing. They basically put profit over people.

[@lapislazarus8899]

That's kinda the story I heard behind margarine. Who knows if the tale I was told was completely factual.

[@maywalker997]

"profit over people"- a story as old as time.

[@chromicapop4595]

Glad my mom never bought us that crap total yuck

[@yoyoglock4]

I remember it well. The Lay's were ok, but the Doritos were pretty darn good. I was on a diet at the time (went from 250 to 165 in about 7 months). I didn't experience any "issues", but I only ate a small handful at a time.

[@lerneanlion]

If there are videos about ramen and okonomiyaki on Weird History Food, it would be awesome! So please, do videos about them!

[@jacobishii6121]

Fun fact:Olestra is not the only product from this time period that had "anal seepage" or "oily rectal discharge" .......a "natural" Rx diet pill meant to bind fat in the body before it's absorbed was also known to cause this same unfortunate side effect

[@CornerstoneMinistry316]

There was also Alli in 2007

[@jacobishii6121]

@@CornerstoneMinistry316 yes,I totally forgot about that one.....it was basically the same thing as the one I mentioned.Fat binder derived from legumes,thanks for reminding me of that one. The risks people take for vanity and acceptance in the U.S. is scary sometimes

[@jacobishii6121]

@@CornerstoneMinistry316 I seem to recall alli having a warning on the comercial and the packaging warning about the user not wearing white and light colored clothing while taking the product because of the "anal seepage"

[@SoulDevoured]

I have liver disease and had to have my gallbladder removed (due to my bad liver functionally killing it). The gallbladder and the liver work to digest fats. without one and the other not working great I do not digest fats well. And I can tell you the symptoms people are describing sound exactly like my experience. When fats flush right through you... well it does these things. I am now on a low fat diet and am very careful about "low fat" foods. Do not recommend not digesting fats.

[@fart3312]

I remember being on vacation with my parents and eating a bunch of these chips. Woke up in the middle of the night like my insides were going to explode. I felt like I was inflated like a balloon.

[@themcadamsminute8494]

I ate a whole bag of these when I was a little kid… I still have never forgotten that day 😂🤪🤯

[@tarekz9992]

Ate these in college (usually the Riffles chip), loved them. Never had any gastrointestinal problems.

[@jacobishii6121]

My parents bought a bag of WOW Doritos when they came out.I was in my mid to late teens.Nobody told me they were Olestra chips,I thought it was just some new Doritos packaging.I was extremely stoned,ate the whole bag.I paid dearly the next day,it was terrible

[@davidgerow]

I’ve never heard of Olestra. It makes sense why I never heard of it in Canada, it was banned.

[@MurderBong]

It was taught in Canada, at culinary colleges. I will … never forget that class… sounded like ‘scary sh…’

[@Ellllliiiiiiee27]

I’d never heard of it either and I’m Australian 😂

[@SY-ok2dq]

I think Canada also bans the sale of the waxy/oily fish called escolar for human consumption. It has a high amount of a similar type of natural wax/fat which can't be digested and goes straight through, unchanged. And causes an oily orange leakage and gut distress, gas, diarrhea etc. just like Olestra. Apparently it tastes really delicious and rich though. You can only eat a small amount safely. The more you eat, the greater the distress.

[@jacobishii6121]

We are also wired to crave salt as well as sugar and fat.These are items harder to come by in nature,we are wired to take advantage in a foraging situation

[@AidenMaaz]

I remember having these as a kid. Didn't give me any negative effects at all and no one i knew personally said anything bad about them. I didn't know these were bad on the digestive system until I saw the backlash on TV.

[@flygirlfly]

I remember my neighbor loving WOW chips as a cure for her constant constipation.

[@dontdiscriminatehateeveryo9263]

Glad she was able to find the brightside. If you are constantly by a bathroom it might not be that bad lol.

[@KristianWontroba]

Sure beats eating a box of prunes. Actually, prunes are surprisingly tasty. 😊

[@Tornado1994]

@@KristianWontroba Oh I LOVE prunes.

[@Auroz]

Funny for a brand like P&G to sell both laxative chips and Pampers diapers. That's a win-win situation for them 😅

[@alashiadiggs4195]

Wow I didn't think of it in that way 😕 🤣!

[@kirbyculp3449]

Like a doctor that owns a funeral parlor.

[@lastotallyawesomebleach204]

They also own charmin TP

[@Tornado1994]

@@lastotallyawesomebleach204 They used to be Wendys Parent Company.

[@gregorybrian]

Back in the 90s/2000s, I once consumed a bag of potato chips with Olestra. My gut definitely reacted by - you guessed it - getting cramps and actually I felt more constipated than having diarrhea.

[@crystaleevee1334]

I remember the Reduced fat/fat free craze of the 90’s when I was a kid. I absolutely hated the way the alternate foods tasted over their regular versions, so when the Wow chips came along, I wanted nothing to do with them. Glad I dodged that bullet.

[@Tornado1994]

I remember "Reduced Fat Doritos" in 1996. AND Definitely Remember Olestra in 1998.

[@null0byte]

One of the running jokes at the time was that the brand named _“Wow!”_ Was the sound you screamed as you ran for the bathroom after eating the snacks.

[@funnylittlecactus4672]

My grandma would buy these kinds of chips, I remember reading the warning on the side of a Pringles can. I believe I did eat some of them, but I don't think I had any adverse reactions lol.

[@scottstark5528]

Remember these very well including the very first time having them. Summer holiday gathering several weeks before me and wife were getting married my grandparents brought these to the family function. They were such a hit that my mom and wife went to the local Walmart to pick up several more bags in various flavors before picking up the party platters we had ordered from Subway. Everyone with the exception of my grandpa got sick to some degree. My mom got so sick dad took her to an emergency clinic opened on the holiday and they diagnosed it as food posoining and indicated it was most likely from the food from Subway. It took several months before the news reports started flowing and my family made the connection that it was from these damn chips.

[@tomh507]

All of the substitute terms for pant-shitting such as "do the big nasty" and "bathroom violence" should *not* crack me up as much as it did

[@mythic_snake]

I had forgotten about Wow chips. It never made me sick, but the warning on the back of the bag was hilarious at the time.

[@thelastminmom5251]

Ok…I have a horror story with Olestra. A friend and I ate a bag of Chips made w Olestra on our way to Knot’s Berry Farm Halloween Party. On the way home…..oh my god. How embarrassing, is all I gotta say. TMI. Never again Lmao 🤣

[@kevinhullinger8743]

I remember A lot of people soiled themselves walking around our mall at this time.

[@LifeAdviceSite]

I tried them. They didn’t bother me because I didn’t eat a lot of them, but I just remember they weren’t a nice texture - more like Baked Lays or Pringle’s rather than a real chip.

[@96ZB]

When I was a little kid (early 00’s), I was visiting my aunt and grandparents on a beach trip. My aunt had a bag of Olestra Ruffles out, and dumb little seven year old me, thinking “oh hell yeah I love Ruffles”, ended up spending a full day of that trip in the bathroom. My dad was SO pissed at her leaving that bag out.

[@crazymode341]

My dad did a focus group study on these when I was a kid he got a whole crap ton of chips with the stuff in them. Yeah ne being a kid ate the crop out of a whole bag and I was sitting on the toilet for three days. I learned at nine it's not good. Stuff

[@brianoconnell6459]

Reminds me of the warning on all foods/candies that contain sorbitol or maltitol now have to carry warnings on the label, for precisely that reason.

[@SY-ok2dq]

Yep, I remember chewing gum with sorbitol or mannitol, and it made a great, easy to take, and low impact laxative.

[@adamw8469]

I was working at a Financial Investment company which Frito-Lay was looking for investors, and they sent cases to our offices. Once people heard Anal Leakage, nobody wanted to eat them.

[@mkera100]

on my first night homeless. this vid really helped me through!!

[@fineoutside]

Hope ya found a place

[@lewiemcneely9143]

Another case of following the yellow brick road. When the target number of $ come rolling up, things change. OLEO margarine would be a good one to open up. Thanks!

[@duncan9993]

4:48 Never a good sign when “Danse Macabre” drops

[@maydavies888]

Thankfully, I smelled a fish with this product and never ate anything containing Olestra. I always knew it was a bullet to dodge! 🙏🙏🙏

[@alanhyt79]

Yep, same here. It seemed unnatural and wrong. At the time, I said that if people were concerned about fat intake from chips, they should switch to another non-fat food like celery and carrot sticks instead of switching their junk food's fat with a bizarre fat-like chemical that cannot be absorbed by the gut. I didn't even try it due to the warning, which made me imagine a very embarrassing situation. I saved myself the humiliation and regret of it all. Some folks were not so lucky. Yikes!

[@susangunn1268]

I absolutely love the gentlemen who narrates these videos. ❤ 😍

[@lazycomicgamer2313]

I remember those wow chips... My friends mother was into the 90's diet fad (thigh master, work out vhs tapes and so on and so forth) and tired to get my mother to buy a bag, we did but it had no taste that we threw almost the entire bag away. my friends mother on the other hand was stuck to the toilet for 2 days. That's how my friend and I knew fad diets were dangerous and dumb.

[@JonBrown-po7he]

I remember it was very important that you wipe your fingers after eating Olestra chips, because it was highly illadvised you bend over for absolutely anything for fear of an accidental 'brown out'.

[@umachan9286]

I remember when these hit the streets. I was always wary of new products especially those that sounded too good to be true. Never tried them after a friend had a whole bag at lunch because they weren't fattening, a couple hours later, in class, he had to go home after soiling himself in class. Good times.

[@Scyber_Official]

"WOW! I had no idea there was that much fecal matter in my body and I need to buy new underwear and pants!" 💯🤣

[@PresidentFunnyValentine]

I remember eating olestra laced chips. A friend brought some as souvenirs from overseas. It felt like my colon was playing ding dong ditch with my asshole.

[@SugarFlowers]

When this product came out it almost killed my dad. He had been diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis a few years earlier, which required a very low fat diet. He tried the chips - very few due to the taste - and had to be hospitalized for several days.

[@ninorcairam]

I used to love the WoW ruffles as a kid. My mom was totally into the “low fat” thing. Never had any digestive problems from them

[@cpfs936]

I was blessed enough to be into some degree of fitness when these came out, and thank God I heard early "rumblings" of problems. 😬

[@AlwaysAmTired]

I was a sad kid forced into weight watchers before I even hit puberty because of my chubbiness. I ate a ton of these chips because I hadn't been allowed to eat chips in years. Never experienced any adverse effects. I was sad when they were pulled out of stores because that meant I went back to never being allowed to eat chips. At least I had Snackwells 😒

[@thecatlady2710]

Same! Hubby and I loved those chips! We had no intestinal issues maybe because we didn't eat a half a bag at a time. 🤣🤣

[@jacquelinekenknight9280]

Same. I was in WW the first time when I was 11 years old. I remember eating these chips! 😂

[@linziRyan1965]

SNACKWELLS DUDE!!!!

[@linziRyan1965]

@@thecatlady2710 exactly! I would ONLY eat a serving! Never once had an issue.

[@monkeygraborange]

Gone, _and_ forgotten... thankfully. The AL wasn’t a joke!

[@theprogressivevet6541]

Content suggestion: the history of the dairy industry. Love your videos

[@itchy-scratchy]

The ice cream was crazy stuff. Tasted weird and gave you the trots like you've never had before.

[@ladymacbethofmtensk896]

Civil War soldiers called it the Tennessee Two-Step.

[@kirbyculp3449]

Olestra Ice Cream!? Oh sh.....!

[@LeftyPem]

Would really like to see a video on artificial sweeteners, especially the early attempts form the 60s and 70s.

[@johnbarrett3615]

Look Out For 🐻🐢🐕🕷️🐫 After Midnight

[@dubliners0999]

It's so weird that fat was "out" when in reality, sugar and carbs were the real problem.

[@Lizzy514]

fat doesn't cause heart disease or high cholesterol. fat is needed for nervous and brain function. it's sugar, carbs and omega 6s in nuts that make blood vessels sticky. eating a good fat rich and low glucose diet ameliorates Alzheimer's

[@x_DEUS_VULT_x]

*"Hey Apu, you got any of those potato chips that give you diarrhea? I need to do a little **_spring cleaning_** "* - Homer Simpson

[@kudukilla]

I remember calling these “bowel prep chips”.

[@c.j.1089]

Oh yeah, I remember ruffles WOW! chips. I ate half a bag, and got VIOLENTLY ill as a child. It was absolutely f'ing terrible.

[@GroundersSourceOfficial]

As one with gastrointestinal issues, these snacks were a God-send at the time. However, they caused even worse ramifications after the fact. Thank God for air-frying. And would love to hear your take and history of monosodium glutamate or MSG. As of late, that stuff has been sneaking into more and more foods.

[@user-bn3yy8qf5g]

MSG is not bad for most people

[@est9949]

​@@user-bn3yy8qf5g msg is bad lol

[@Tornado1994]

@@user-bn3yy8qf5g For Master Shake it was. MSG only taste good in Specific Foods.

[@Palidor19]

Never ate these chips and was never convinced to eat them. Looks like it was the right call

[@andrewn8002]

Never even heard of Olestra. Yikes. I can't imagine eating that stuff with my current IBM issues. 😬

[@spacekoalalove]

More people are developing IBS because of food being modified. How is everyone not going to be completely fucked in 50 years?

[@JoeSiegler]

Didn't realize it was still being used. Anyone know of a comprehensive list of products that still use that?

[@ProfessorRoy82]

I remember these. I bought these all the time. I never had a problem unless I ate half the bag. I would not be surprised if most of the complaints came from people who over did it and figured they could eat the whole bag since it's "fat free".

[@inconnu4961]

But that was the entire marketing scheme though!

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

going by the comments here, it seems that olestra chips were capable of causing symptoms in doses below a half or quarter bag, and for several days for people who ate a whole bag. xD

[@milleijones2828]

A co-worker brought a bag of olean chips to an office party. I was a bit nervous, considering what I'd heard about them, but I did eat a couple. They tasted fine, and I had no bad results --nor did anyone else there as far as I know. But none of us ate very many of them.

[@its0all0relavent]

I remember these fondly lol They tasted so good and were super greasy which my 12 year old self loved. It was the first time I went on a strict diet and I ate all the weird crap like Boca burgers and olestra laced chips.

[@MakotoKamui]

"gastro-intestinally distressed in their pants before they could make it to the bathroom" is such a great turn of phrase.

[@DaveTexas]

I bought a bag of Wow! Lay’s potato chips. They were OK but tasted a little...off. I had no gastrointestinal distress but the higher price and strange flavor put me off buying any more of those products. The best thing I learned from all this is that fat is not the enemy. "Fat-free" foods are most definitely not healthier options.

[@jblyon2]

Especially since they replace the flavor the fat would normally provide with sugar!

[@glennso47]

When people see “fat free “ on a label, they’re tempted to eat more of the stuff.

[@glennso47]

Hang on to the can. 😂

[@glennso47]

I’ll bet it gave great job security to toilet paper sales.

[@lastotallyawesomebleach204]

Most of the time, the "reduced fat", "fat free", or "sugar free" versions of products are actually much worse for you than the original. Diet coke syndrome comes to mind.

[@jayjones5756]

I lived in one of their little test market cities for olean when I was in high school. I was suspicious of free chips in the mail so I read the label. I threw them away after seeing “loose stool.” Being the target of market research pissed me off too.

[@abubarrie88]

Omg I remember this when I was kid and after it’s release all anyone could talk about was the anal leakage 😂 it caused

[@ladymacbethofmtensk896]

My mother was very slow to catch on to it. Just like a California liberal!

[@linziRyan1965]

My mom is 62 and STILL says “it’s low fat” or “have a healthy breakfast like a bagel” 😂 mom we have LEARNED!!!!!!

[@BTScriviner]

Once I read "anal leakage" as a potential side effect, I was like, "No thanks!"

[@DisinterestedParty]

THANK YOU ....I had totally forgotten about this part of my past life! Oh my, this was NOT a smart (or convenient) weight loss method. Messy....that's a polite way to describe it.

[@jillcsupa9961]

Back in the late 90’s I was in high school and working after school in a drug store. One night when I was stocking shelves I grabbed a can of Pringles to purchase as a snack. For reasons I don’t remember I looked at the nutrition label and saw that it had Olestra In it and a side effect was anal leakage. I vividly remember anal leakage being printed on the packaging! I ran to show my coworker and we laughed about it. I did not end up buying those Pringles after reading that lol!

[@jjcoola998]

I also remember cackling at the “anal leakage” with my brother back in the day. The chips were actually good and o had no issues but it was just too funny for me as a kid at the time

[@dwaynerichardson5380]

Those chips made me late for training. My job threatened me that if I was late again, I was going back to my old title. Screw Olestra!

[@tylerrose4416]

There is something kind of along the lines of olestra in food now, it’s called EPG (epogee) fat and it’s relatively new. I have never eaten it before, but it’s an ingredient in Nick’s ice cream

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

it sounds like an overall bad idea given that more modern nutrition science suggests that a pretty much generally good solution qould be to replace satirated fata with unsaturated ones, since there is little need to limit the amount of undaturated fats.

[@WinterRaven25]

They didn't effect me at all. I miss them. Frankly I think that they should still be available. It's the consumer's responsibility to eat a small amount on their day off to see if they will get them sick. 8 year old me was able to figure that out.

[@pamelamays4186]

Suggestion: The "Baked' snack trend.

[@danielkimball3037]

I was just thinking how much I miss these olean chips...was well worth the risks 😂