By Sylvia Chebet
“To eat is a necessity; to eat intelligently is an art,” philosopher François de La Rochefoucauld, once said.
However, it appears this art eludes many. Across the world, people remain hooked to trans fats, which the head of nutrition at the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Francesco Branca describes as the enemy of good health.
Around 300,000 - 500,000 people die every year around the world as a result of the consumption of this toxic compound, Dr. Branca tells TRT Afrika.
“We have seen that trans fats are responsible for heart disease and they need to be removed from the food systems,” he says.
Trans fat clogs arteries, increasing the risk of heart attacks and deaths.
“Trans fat has no known benefit,” WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
“Put simply, trans fat is a toxic chemical that kills, and should have no place in food. It’s time to get rid of it once and for all,” he added.
What are trans fats?
The name may sound complex but these are every day products in our kitchen pantries and fridges. Trans fats, also known as trans-fatty acids (TFA), are semisolid or solid fats that are either industrially produced or naturally occurring in food.
“Trans fats are made in the process of hardening liquid fats to produce something, for example, margarine and the technological process used is done by adding hydrogen into liquid fat.”
Besides margarine and cooking oils, foods high in industrially produced trans fats (iTFA) include fried foods, and baked goods such as cakes, biscuits and pies as well as packaged or ready meals. These foods are often high in sugar, fat and salt.
Trans fat can also be found naturally in meat and dairy foods from ruminant animals (e.g. cows, sheep, goats). Both industrially produced and naturally occurring trans fat are equally harmful.
Experts observe that the use of trans fats increased dramatically in recent years because they tend to be cheaper than healthier fats.
They also have several chemical and physical characteristics, such as being solid at room temperature making them suitable for a variety of processed food products.
The choices of fats and oils used in many countries is influenced by availability, cost of alternatives and the oil industry’s capacity to innovate.
According to Dr. Branca, it is possible to eliminate and replace industrial trans fats with other healthier fats without a major impact on the economy and the consumer's preferences.
“Countries may put limits. So they say we don't want to see any fats and oils or any foods containing more than 1% of trans fats or they can even completely ban the ingredient. So, there are different kinds of regulations but definitely regulations that will ask producers to change ingredient.”
The regulations, however, have to be supported by adequate monitoring if the goal of weaning the world from trans fats is to be achieved, according to Dr. Branca.
“It’s possible to do this and we have awarded recently some countries because they have been able to set up policies and implement them. Basically now people living in those countries do not consume trans fat from industrial products and are therefore protected from cardiovascular disease.”
In January 2024, WHO gave Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand certificates for their efforts in eliminating trans fats.
These countries ''are leading the world in monitoring and enforcing their trans fat policies. We urge other countries to follow their lead,” the WHO director general noted.
Action package
In 2018 WHO set an ambitious target to fully eliminate iTFA from the global food supply by the end of 2023. Failure to meet this goal means that five billion people remain unprotected from harmful trans fat, increasing their risk of heart disease and death.
“We had hoped to actually finish this job in 2023,” Dr. Branca, WHO’s head of nutrition says.
The health body developed a programme known as REPLACE action package that supports governments to design and implement policies to eliminate iTFA from their food chains.
Although the practices have yet to be implemented in every country, Dr. Branca says remarkable progress has been recorded in every region of the world.
In 2023 alone, new best-practice policies became effective in seven countries (Egypt, Mexico, Moldova, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Philippines, and Ukraine), the WHO official says.
“It's going to become a global trend. Even global food producers and global producers of oils have understood that this is the way forward. Large oil manufacturers have changed their offer of products. So yes, indeed, it can be done and it can be done very quickly,” Dr. Branca adds.
“Trans fat elimination is economically, politically, and technically feasible and saves lives at virtually no cost to governments or consumers. This harmful compound is unnecessary, and no one misses it when it’s gone,” Dr Tom Frieden, President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives said.
"We are winning the battle against trans fat, but countries without regulations are at risk of becoming dumping grounds for TFA products. Governments and the food industry have a responsibility to ensure that doesn’t happen," he added.
Reducing trans fat intake
Experts recommend oils rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids such as those from safflower, corn, sunflower, soybean, fatty fishes, walnuts and seeds; followed by oils rich in monounsaturated fatty-acids, which include include canola, olive, peanut, and oils from nuts and avocados.
Although the primary responsibility to protect citizens from the harmful effects of industrially produced trans fat rests with governments, individuals too can take deliberate measures to reduce trans fat intake.
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