“Billions still exposed to toxic trans fat,” says WHO

• Trans fat is a toxic chemical that kills.
• Trans fat increases the risk of heart disease.
• It causes 500,000 premature deaths each year.

GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that trans fat exposes five billion people to an increased risk of heart disease, chastising countries that have failed to combat the toxic substance.

The WHO issued an appeal in 2018 to eliminate industrially-produced fatty acids in foods worldwide by 2023, citing evidence that they cause 500,000 premature deaths each year.

Although 43 countries with a combined population of 2.8 billion people have now implemented best-practice policies, the UN’s health agency stated that the remaining five billion or so people on the planet are still unprotected.

According to the report, Egypt, Australia, and South Korea are among the countries that have not implemented such policies and have particularly high rates of heart disease caused by trans fat.

The solidified oil that clogs arteries around the heart is commonly found in processed foods, baked goods, cooking oils, and spreads such as margarine.

“Trans fat is a toxic chemical that kills, and should have no place in the food,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said amid the release of the annual progress report. “It’s time to get rid of it once and for all.”

He added the substance carries “huge health risks that incur huge costs for health systems.”

Urgent action call

Food manufacturers use trans fat because it has a longer shelf life and is less expensive than some alternatives.

Either a mandatory national limit of two grams of industrially-produced trans fat per 100 grams of total fat in all foods, or a national ban on the production or use of partially-hydrogenated oils, which are a major source of trans fat, is best practice for eliminating trans fat.

According to the WHO, nine of the sixteen countries with the highest estimated proportion of coronary heart disease deaths caused by trans fat consumption were not enacting best-practice policies.

Australia, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, and South Korea are among them.

Francesco Branca, the WHO’s nutrition and food safety director, called on those countries to take “urgent action”.

Sixty countries now have trans fat elimination policies in place, covering 3.4 billion people, or 43% of the world’s population.

43 of those countries, primarily in Europe and the Americas, are implementing best practice standards. Low-income countries, however, have yet to adopt such standards.

“There are some regions of the world that do not believe the problem exists,” Branca told reporters, adding that “it is simple for them to take action to prevent these products from being dumped on them.”

The solidified oil that clogs arteries around the heart is commonly found in processed foods, baked goods, cooking oils, and spreads such as margarine.

‘No excuse’

The report was created in collaboration with the WHO by the non-profit organization Resolve to Save Lives.

“There is simply no excuse for any country not taking action to protect their people from this artificial toxic chemical,” said the organization’s president, Tom Frieden, a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States.

“Only your heart will be able to tell the difference. You can eliminate artificial trans fat without affecting the price, taste, or availability of delicious foods.”

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. In 2019, an estimated 17.9 million people died from CVDs, with heart attacks and strokes accounting for 85 percent of all deaths.

Trans fat elimination is seen as an easy way to reduce the numbers.

Frieden claimed that global eradication was within reach, citing large countries such as Nigeria and Mexico as examples.

“We´re optimistic that the world can make trans fat history,” he said.

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