How To Pig Out

It sounds like the delirious wish of a junk-food junkie: no-fat desserts. In an effort to cater to consumers' concern over the link between high-fat diets and heart disease, food manufacturers are rolling out an array of low-fat and fat-free fancy pastries, creamy cakes and gooey snacks. This month Entenmann's introduced a dozen no-fat desserts, including Bavarian Creme Pastry and % Pineapple Crunch Cake. They are made with nonfat milk and egg whites instead of whole eggs; according to Entenmann's, they do not contain a trace of oil, margarine or butter. Meanwhile, Hostess cupcakes, a favorite after-school snack for generations of children, will now come in a 97% fat-free version. Hostess Lights will seem more like sponge cake than a cupcake.

Nutrition experts admit that these products, which also have no cholesterol, are improvements over the originals, but they are hardly health food. They are still loaded with sugar and thus can promote tooth decay. Says Bonnie Liebman, nutrition director at Washington's Center for Science in the Public Interest: "Getting rid of fat is one of the most important dietary changes to improve health, but we're still talking about cake, not broccoli. It has virtually no nutritional value."

Other manufacturers have rushed to create fat substitutes, such as olestra and Simplesse. These compounds, which have not yet received Food and Drug Administration approval, mimic the texture of fats but have considerably fewer or no calories. Liebman, whose group believes olestra is potentially cancer promoting, applauds Hostess and Entenmann's for being able to reduce fat content and preserve taste without resorting to a fat substitute.