WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Olestra

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff. I'm Josh Clark,

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<v Speaker 1>and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, and there's Jerry. So

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<v Speaker 1>let's get started. Everybody be quiet and listen. Get ready

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<v Speaker 1>to feel like you're gonna poop your pants, because we're

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<v Speaker 1>gonna talk about a lestra which would make you poop

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<v Speaker 1>your pants. Yeah. So this one starts back in the fifties. Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>we can't talk about a lester without mentioning the Seven

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<v Speaker 1>Country Study, which was very famous in the fifties for

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<v Speaker 1>for fooling science and the world into the notion that

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<v Speaker 1>fats are terrible they will kill you don't eat them.

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<v Speaker 1>So all foods started saying, great, we're gonna put out

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<v Speaker 1>no fat stuff and start pumping in high fruit dose

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<v Speaker 1>corn syrup into our things to create flavor. And the

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<v Speaker 1>world is the worst for it. Right, Yeah, I think

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<v Speaker 1>we need to do is a straight up stuff you

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<v Speaker 1>should know episode about the seven the Seven Country Study.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay for sure, So stop talking about it now. Okay.

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<v Speaker 1>So the upshot of what you just said is that

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<v Speaker 1>we live in we by I think the seventies or eighties,

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<v Speaker 1>we lived in like a fat free obsessed society, right,

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<v Speaker 1>and the manufacturers of food said, hey, sure, we'll we'll

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<v Speaker 1>give it to you. We'll do some of those amazing

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<v Speaker 1>things that Chuck just mentioned, and um, we'll give you

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<v Speaker 1>low fat food as much as you can take. And

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<v Speaker 1>by the mid nineties, like the whole thing was at

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<v Speaker 1>its peak. Man, like the you remember, um, healthy Choice.

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<v Speaker 1>I think Healthy Choice is still around. So they came

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<v Speaker 1>out with a line of foods and in healthy Choice,

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<v Speaker 1>just a healthy Choice line of food um made one

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<v Speaker 1>point three billion dollars in sales, Like that's how much

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<v Speaker 1>that People were like, here, take all my money, just

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<v Speaker 1>give me some fat free foods because fat's gonna kill

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<v Speaker 1>me and make me fat. And um, I hate fat.

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<v Speaker 1>Don't you hate fat? Yes, because it's the word fat

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<v Speaker 1>and you don't want to be that word right right.

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<v Speaker 1>Plus also, I think everybody was scared to death. We're

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<v Speaker 1>all going to die of heart attacks if we ate

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<v Speaker 1>like any fat whatsoever. So the solution was fat free

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<v Speaker 1>foods and it was in full swing in the nineties.

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<v Speaker 1>So Um, by this time, I believe it was Procter

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<v Speaker 1>and Gamble that came up with the lestra right, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>they came up with that. That's just their trade name

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<v Speaker 1>for UH polyester sucros, and this was developed by them

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<v Speaker 1>in the late sixties, but it took to the nineties

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<v Speaker 1>to really catch hold in full. And this is one

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<v Speaker 1>of those where they it's not like they didn't do

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<v Speaker 1>product research. They did a lot of testing and research,

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<v Speaker 1>and they learned that Olestra would make you poop your pants,

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<v Speaker 1>and they pressed on anyway UH and went forward knowing this,

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<v Speaker 1>which it was an interesting decision to say the least. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>like they were searching for a fat substitute for formula

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<v Speaker 1>to to um feed premature infants. Yeah, which is a

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<v Speaker 1>eat start. It is a sweet start, and hopefully they

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<v Speaker 1>realized very quickly that no infant should ever have polyester

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<v Speaker 1>sucros passed through its mouth. It's probably hard to tell

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<v Speaker 1>with babies, Yeah, that's true, UM, but it's not hard

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<v Speaker 1>to tell with adults. And like you said, their their

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<v Speaker 1>product testing showed there are some real problems with the

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<v Speaker 1>lestra When you ate it, um, you would get abdominal cramping,

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<v Speaker 1>you would get flatulent, you would poop your pants. Like

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<v Speaker 1>you said, there were a lot of things that came

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<v Speaker 1>back that that were red flags and should have been

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<v Speaker 1>to Procter and Gamble that that should have told them, like,

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<v Speaker 1>don't put this into food products and then sell them

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<v Speaker 1>to consumers, because this is going to be bad. But

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<v Speaker 1>Procter and Gamble, it's spent you know, hundreds of millions

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<v Speaker 1>of dollars developing this stuff by this time and being

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<v Speaker 1>been in in development for like thirty years. And so

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<v Speaker 1>they said, nope, we're going to do this. We're going

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<v Speaker 1>to go get the FDA to approve it. And the

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<v Speaker 1>FDA said, okay, we'll give you approval, but you have

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<v Speaker 1>to put a warning on any food item, like the

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<v Speaker 1>container of any food item that you sell this stuff in. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>and that that label I remember seeing it. It literally

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<v Speaker 1>said it could cause abdom a, dominal cramping and loose stools. Uh.

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<v Speaker 1>They were marketed um for their line for like pringles

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<v Speaker 1>in and free lay as wow. Uh all upper case

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<v Speaker 1>exclamation point. And despite the fact that it said on

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<v Speaker 1>the label like, hey, this will give you diarrhea, people

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<v Speaker 1>are like, well, I get that, but can I eat

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<v Speaker 1>a whole bag of chips and not have any fat?

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<v Speaker 1>And the label said sure? And I think that was

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<v Speaker 1>I think that actually increased the diarrhea and the cramping

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<v Speaker 1>was the fact that people probably overindulged even because they could. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>and so we should probably talk real quick about the

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<v Speaker 1>science behind this, right, Yeah, let's do it. So um,

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<v Speaker 1>polyester sucros mimics fat and its taste, its mouth feel,

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<v Speaker 1>it does everything that fat does except get metabolized by body. Right, So,

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<v Speaker 1>like A like a triglystrite, and naturally occurring fat is

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<v Speaker 1>A is a molecule fatty acids surrounded by three chains

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<v Speaker 1>of hydrocarbons. And when you eat that thing, that molecule UM,

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<v Speaker 1>your body metabolizes it by breaking the hydrocarbon chains off

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<v Speaker 1>of it and using that fatty acid either for energy

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<v Speaker 1>or to store later to use his energy as fat. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>that's the naturally occurring stuff. So for polyester sucrose, it

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<v Speaker 1>has a sucrose molecule and it's surrounded by hydrocarbon chains too,

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<v Speaker 1>but there's a lot of them, so much so that

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<v Speaker 1>the parts of your body that normally metabolize fat can't

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<v Speaker 1>break through all those hydrocarbon chains. And so that molecule

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<v Speaker 1>of polyester sucrose goes through your body untouched. It comes

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<v Speaker 1>out the other end just like it went in. So

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<v Speaker 1>you get the mouth feel, you get the taste you get, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>you get the experience of eating fatty foods with no

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<v Speaker 1>fat and no weight gain whatsoever. Her The problem is

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<v Speaker 1>on the other side, when it does come out, it

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<v Speaker 1>comes out with a lot of poop and a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of cramping. And there's another problem with this whole thing

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<v Speaker 1>that we'll talk about right after this. All right, So

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<v Speaker 1>nice job, by the way with the science. Thank you.

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<v Speaker 1>I appreciate that you're welcome, because I was not ready

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<v Speaker 1>any time. Uh So they discovered with olestra, this is great.

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<v Speaker 1>It just comes out the body like it goes in.

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<v Speaker 1>These idiots will still eat it. It It doesn't metabolize. Here's

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<v Speaker 1>here's the big issue with that is the body is

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<v Speaker 1>used to metabolizing fats, but now all of a sudden,

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<v Speaker 1>your body gets confused because it's used to doing things

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<v Speaker 1>one way, and all of a sudden your body is like, well,

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<v Speaker 1>wait a minute, maybe maybe I shouldn't metabolize any fats.

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<v Speaker 1>Fool me once, yeah, kind of, And so it messed

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<v Speaker 1>with the body chemistry because it literally confused it in

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<v Speaker 1>these artificial fats. And I think this is true a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of times with artificial ingredients, your body doesn't know

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<v Speaker 1>how to react to that. Uh. And so all of

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<v Speaker 1>a sudden, you're gaining weight even though you're eating fat

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<v Speaker 1>free foods because your body is not metabolizing any fats.

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<v Speaker 1>So when you eat you indulge on that cheese steak,

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<v Speaker 1>it's not getting metabolized no, because so like the polyester

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<v Speaker 1>sucros gets passed through it, your body doesn't absorb it,

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<v Speaker 1>but your body will absorb naturally occurring fats even if

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<v Speaker 1>they're not metabolized. It gets stored for fat later. So

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<v Speaker 1>if your body is not metabolizing either of it, then

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<v Speaker 1>all the fat that's going through is just being packed on.

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<v Speaker 1>People who were eating this fat free fat substitute, we're

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<v Speaker 1>actually gaining weight from recent research shows amazing. Even worse

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<v Speaker 1>than that possibly is that the alestra was like a

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<v Speaker 1>magnet for vitamins and nutrients, So when it passed through

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<v Speaker 1>your digestive system untouched, it actually was taking vitamins and

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<v Speaker 1>nutrients that were already present with it. So you can

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<v Speaker 1>actually develop a vitamin deficiency from eating too much alestra. However,

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<v Speaker 1>despite all of this, I know this is the kicker, uh.

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<v Speaker 1>Initial sales of these chips, just these those wild chips

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<v Speaker 1>was about four hundred million dollars in that year. Uh.

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<v Speaker 1>That was the I believe the first year that Procter

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<v Speaker 1>and Game will debut these chips. Everyone is pooping their pants,

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<v Speaker 1>they're eating I think they found in studies that the

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<v Speaker 1>wild de rito's uh, if you ate sixteen of those chips, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>fifty of the participants. Half the people that ate at

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<v Speaker 1>least steam chips got diarrhea. Right. Uh, So you would

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<v Speaker 1>think they find this out, they make their money, and

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<v Speaker 1>then they get out and they're just like, all right,

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<v Speaker 1>we're done with a lester because I don't see a

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<v Speaker 1>lester anymore on any packaging. Right, Yeah, it's gone the

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<v Speaker 1>way of the dinosaur. Is that Is that the case,

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<v Speaker 1>my friend? That is absolutely not the case. No, it's

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<v Speaker 1>just not called o lester anymore. Yeah. Back in two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand two, the FDA said, you know what, we were

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<v Speaker 1>pretty wasted when we made you put that that warning

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<v Speaker 1>label on. We've since entered the program and we want

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<v Speaker 1>to make amends, so you don't have to put the

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<v Speaker 1>warning label on any longer. You can just take that off. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>and now you don't see them as well, because that

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<v Speaker 1>got a bad name by association. Now you just see

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<v Speaker 1>them as light chips or fat free uh crackers and

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<v Speaker 1>things like that. Yeah. So they're still using polyester sucros

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<v Speaker 1>in certain products like Lays light potato chips or Ruffles

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<v Speaker 1>light or fat free ritz or fat free wheat thins um,

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<v Speaker 1>but they just don't call it all estra or olean

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<v Speaker 1>or anything like that. It's still the same thing. But

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<v Speaker 1>I think that that Procter and Gamble managed to get

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<v Speaker 1>that label taken off because they successfully argued that the

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<v Speaker 1>results were really no worse than if you ate a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of like high fibers. They're like, I mean, look

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<v Speaker 1>at prune juice. Yeah, I have a special label on that.

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<v Speaker 1>Everybody loves prune juice, but you have no label. Nobody

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<v Speaker 1>likes brune juice. No, what are prunes made from? Are

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<v Speaker 1>they dates or um? Uh? I always get those confused,

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<v Speaker 1>the the dehydrated um. You know what I'm talking about? Prunes? Right?

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<v Speaker 1>So what is a prune? Is it a figure? A uh?

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<v Speaker 1>Is a date? A dehydrated version of something. I'm just

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<v Speaker 1>enjoying this. I think a prune is a plum? Okay, great, great, Well,

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<v Speaker 1>then a date is a dehydrated fig. My friend, and

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<v Speaker 1>a raisin is a dehydrated grape. That's right, and that

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<v Speaker 1>concludes this episode of short Stuff. Okay, well, if you

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<v Speaker 1>want to get in touch with let's send us an

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<v Speaker 1>email to Stuff Podcast at how stuff works dot com