ESTIMATED CONSUMPTION AND EATING FREQUENCY OF OLESTRA FROM SAVORY SNACKS USING MENU CENSUS-DATA

Potential chronic (14-d average) and acute (single-day) estimated dail y intakes (EDI) were computed for olestra, a fat replacement intended for use in preparing savory snacks. The EDI were computed from eating occasions reported during a 14-d Menu Census survey among 4741 consume rs; values were increased by 10% for conservatism The eating occasions included all meals and in-between meal occasions eaten at home or awa y, Data from only those individuals who ate savory snacks at least onc e during the 14 d were used; this included 3820 individuals (81% of th e sample) and represented a total of 16,067 eating days (24% frequency ), The estimated mean chronic intake ranged from 1.8 to 4.7 g/d, depen ding on age and gender; at the 90th percentile, the range was 4.1-11.0 g/d. For all ages and both genders, the estimated mean intake was 3.1 g/d. Estimated acute intakes at the mean and 90th percentile ranged f rom 5.5 to 16.5 g/d and from 10.2 to 24.0 g/d, respectively, depending on age and gender, For all ages and both genders, the estimated mean intake was 10.2 g/d, The lack of parity in the chronic and acute intak e estimates indicates that savory snacks are not eaten on a daily basi s by the majority of snack eaters, The survey data were analyzed to un derstand the potential temporal eating patterns of olestra from savory snacks, When snacks were consumed, on average, 69% of the eating occa sions were with main meals and 31% were between meals. Savory snacks d id not contribute a major fraction of total food to the diet; only 7 a nd 18% of main meals contained a savory snack food at the 50th and 90t h percentile, respectively, For the 50th-percentile consumer (all ages , both genders), savory snacks were eaten four times during the 14-d s urvey period, and the eating occasions occurred on 3 d. Comparable res ults for 90th-percentile consumers were 10 eating occasions and 8 eati ng days.