Kashish Sharma
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Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “Trans-fat has no known benefit and huge health risks that incur huge costs for health systems.
As per WHO, around five billion people globally remain unprotected from trans-fat, increasing their risk of developing heart disease and death. Trans fats are a kind of unsaturated fats that come in both natural and artificial forms. They are commonly found in packaged foods, baked foods, cooking oils and spread.
The WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "Trans-fat has no known benefit and huge health risks that incur huge costs for health systems. By contrast, eliminating trans-fat is cost-effective and has enormous benefits for health. 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."
The global health watchdog first called for the global elimination of industrially produced trans fats in 2018. The elimination target was set for 2023. As per WHO, forty-three countries have now implemented best-practice policies for tackling trans-fat in food, with 2.8 billion people protected globally.
With five billion people still suffering from the health impacts of this unsaturated fat, the target of global elimination seems unattainable this year.
The health watchdog has observed that 9 of the 16 countries with the highest estimated proportion of coronary heart disease deaths caused by trans-fat intake do not have a best-practice policy. They include Australia, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Nepal, Pakistan and the Republic of Korea.
Among the effective practices followed globally to eliminate harmful fats, the two policies are showing good results. One is a mandatory national limit of 2 grams of industrially produced trans-fat per 100 grams of total fat in all foods and the second one is a mandatory national ban on the production or use of partially hydrogenated oils (a major source of trans fat) as an ingredient in all foods.
Natural trans-oils are found naturally in dairy and meat products but moderate intake of these fatty acids has been observed to cause no such great harm. However, the intake of these trans-fats instead of other saturated fats and carbohydrates was seen to significantly increase levels of LDL (low density or bad cholesterol) which has been directly associated with heart disease.