The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called for the total elimination of industrial trans fatty acids (TFAs), saying it is responsible for half a million premature deaths each year, VOA News reports.
According to WHO data, 5bn people were being exposed to industrial TFAs, which are commonly found in packaged foods, baked goods, cooking oils and spreads, increasing their risk of heart disease and death, the 23 January report said.
TFAs occur naturally in animal fats but the health concerns relate to industrial trans fats formed by the partial hydrogenation of vegetable oils to increase their stability and shelf life.
The global elimination of industrial trans fat from food could prevent up to 17M deaths from cardiovascular diseases by 2040, according to Tom Frieden, the president and chief executive officer of the public health initiative Resolve to Save Lives.
Frieden also spoke of the importance of distinguishing artificial trans fat from saturated fat, which he called “an inherent part of many food groups in which nobody is proposing to ban”.
Progress had been made since 2018 when the WHO set a goal for the global elimination of trans fat in 2023. It said 43 countries had now implemented best-practice policies for tackling trans fat in food, giving protection from heart disease and death to 2.8bn people, VOA News wrote.
However, Frieden said that still left 5bn people at risk from the health impacts of trans fat, adding that governments could stop these preventable deaths by enacting WHO’s best-practice policies.
He noted that several countries, especially Mexico, Nigeria and Sri Lanka, were very close to passing these lifesaving policies.
“Policy wins in one country can help encourage other countries to take action,” Frieden said. “We hope that leaders such as India, Bangladesh and the Philippines will be examples for all of the South and Southeast Asia region, and we hope that Nigeria - along with South Africa which has already banned trans fat - will be a leader for Africa.”
Friedan said experience showed the industry could adapt, innovate and replace trans fat with healthy alternatives.
According to WHO reports, most trans fat elimination policies have been implemented in high-income countries, mainly in the Americas and Europe, and that an increasing number of middle-income countries were following suit.
However, no low-income countries had introduced such policies to date, he said.
