No-Calorie Powder May Substitute For Food

’s Fat Essay, Research Paper

No-Calorie Powder May Substitute for Food’s Fat

George E. Inglett of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Biopolymer

Research Unit in Peoria III invented a no-calorie fat substitute called Z-Trim.

It is a mix of crushed fibers made from the hulls of grains. It can replace the

fat and some of the carbohydrates in foods such as chocolates, brownies, cheese,

and ground beef. He spent three years trying to perfect Z-Trim to be smooth

because he made it out of tough hulls of corn, oats, and rice. He first crushed

the hulls with a solution of hydrogen peroxide. He washed the peroxide off in

centrifuge. After this step it was still too large, so he put the pieces back

through the first step of the hydrogen peroxide and the centrifuge. That made

it smooth. Now, it is a fine, white cellulose powder that can be made into a

gel by adding water.

Inglett also developed Oatrim. This is made up of a digestible fiber

from oat flour that provides four calories per gram.

Z-Trim compared to another fat substitute, olestra, is different.

Olestra can cause gastrointestinal distress and take vitamins and carotenoids

out of the body. The new substitute does not have those affects. Inglett says

that you should eat more of the kind of fibers that make up Z-Trim to reduce

the chances of getting intestinal disorders.

But there are some people who argue with Inglett’s theory on his new

substitute. “I wouldn’t expect Z-Trim to have the same kinds of problems as

olestra,” says Margo Wootan, a senior scientist at the Center for Science in the

Public Interest in Washington, D.C. “Fiber is already found in our diet, while

olestra is a synthetic chemical. There is also concern for the “microbial

stability” of foods containing Z-Trim. “Whenever you remove the lipid material

and replace it with water,” says Thomas H. Parliment, a flavor chemist for Kraft

Foods in White Plains, New York, “microbes are to grow, and you can get mold.”

That would have to be worked out before Z-Trim could go on the market, Parliment

says.

If you want to replace fat in food, Inglett says, only 3 safe no-calorie

possibilities exist: water, air, and fiber. “You don’t sell anybody air, you

don’t sell anybody water, but you can sell people Z-Trim.