5 billion people worldwide are still unprotected from harmful trans fats, increasing their risk of heart disease and death. This is the finding of a new report from the World Health Organization. On this front, the UN health agency has long called for a commitment to the global elimination of industrially produced trans fats: it was 2018 and it set itself an elimination goal set for 2023. Since then, the population covered by policies based on good practices has increased almost sixfold. 43 countries have implemented such policies to tackle trans fats in food, with 2.8 billion people made safe globally.
Despite significant progress, the report notes, 5 billion people are still estimated to be at risk from the devastating health impacts of trans fats. And the global goal of their total elimination in 2023 remains unmet at this time. Industrially produced trans fatty acids are commonly found in packaged foods, baked goods, cooking oils and spreads. The intake of trans fats is responsible for 500,000 premature deaths from coronary heart disease every year worldwide.
“Trans fats have no known benefits and” are instead associated with “huge health risks that pose enormous costs to health systems,” warned WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “On the contrary, eliminating them is convenient and has huge health benefits. Simply put, trans fat is a toxic, killing chemical that should have no place in food. It’s time to get rid of it once and for all.” Currently, 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 are Australia, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and the Republic of Korea.
There are two alternative policies based on best practice: mandatory national limit of 2 grams of industrially produced trans fats per 100 grams of total fat in all foods; and 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. “Progress is at risk of stalling and trans fats continue to kill people,” said Tom Frieden, president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives. “Every government can stop these preventable deaths by passing a best practice policy now. Governments must act to end this preventable tragedy.”
A growing number of middle-income countries are also implementing or adopting these policies, including Argentina, Bangladesh, India, Paraguay, the Philippines and Ukraine. In 2023 they are also being considered in Mexico, Nigeria and Sri Lanka. If approved, Nigeria would be the second and most populous country in Africa to implement a best-practice policy for eliminating trans fats. However, no low-income country has yet adopted a policy based on this goal. In 2023, WHO recommends countries focus on 4 areas, from adopting policies to substituting healthier oils. A guide has also been developed to help you make rapid progress. And the call is also made to the producers and suppliers of these oils and fats to work to eliminate industrially produced trans fats from their products.
