CALORIE-CONSCIOUS eaters, wary of potato crisps with their high fat content, can now wolf them down. Olestra, a zero-calorie artificial fat, developed by the multinational Procter & Gamble, got the us Food and Drug Administration (FDA) go-ahead early this year. It will replace the conventional fat used in crisps and other snacks.

Them is a hitch though, much to the advantage of anti-olestra baiters. The fake fat can cause unpleasant gastrointestinal effects. including diarrhoea. Worse, it can deplete the body of certain vitamins and nutrients. But for the FDA, this was merely :nnoying' rather than 'medically significant'. It has, however, ordered that foods made with olestm carry a label signifying its possible side-effects.