The World Health Organization announced on Monday that regulations restricting trans fat in food now apply to about half of the world’s population, and it urged developing nations to catch up.
2018 saw the WHO issue an appeal calling for the global ban of industrially generated fatty acids in food by 2023 due to findings that these fats were responsible for 500,000 preventable deaths annually.
Since the goal was not reached, it was postponed until 2025.
However, from 11 countries and 6% in 2018, 53 countries, or 46% of the world’s population, are now putting best practice regulations on the harmful toxin into effect.
According to WHO estimates, around 183,000 lives are saved year.
In a statement, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of WHO, said, “Trans fat has huge health risks but no known health benefit.”
He declared, “We are very happy that so many nations have passed laws restricting or outlawing trans fat in food.”
In 2023, seven nations—Egypt, Mexico, Moldova, Nigeria, North Macedonia, the Philippines, and Ukraine—implemented best practice policies.
– Clogging the arteries: Packaged foods, baked products, cooking oils, and spreads like margarine frequently contain the hardened oil that constricts the arteries surrounding the heart.
Because trans fats are less expensive than certain alternatives and have a longer shelf life, food companies use them.
A national prohibition on the manufacturing or use of partially-hydrogenated oils, a significant source of trans fat, or a required national limit of two grams of industrially produced trans fat per 100 grams of total fat in all foods are the two best practices for eradicating trans fat.
At a ceremony held at the UN health agency’s Geneva headquarters on Monday, Tedros presented the WHO with its first-ever certificates attesting to the organization’s efforts in getting rid of trans-fatty acids that are manufactured industrially.
Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand were the recipients.
Countries must apply best practices and support them with strict monitoring and enforcement mechanisms in order to qualify.
To maintain their certification, certified nations must provide new data every three years.
Tedros called for talks to keep the food business on board and asked other nations to follow their example.
“Harmful” and “unnecessary,” according to Danish ambassador to the UN in Geneva Ib Petersen, the nation’s measures are believed to have decreased the prevalence of coronary heart disease by 11%.
He said at the ceremony, “The most financially disadvantaged groups will benefit the most.”
Worldwide, cardiovascular illnesses are the primary cause of death. 2019 saw an estimated 17.9 million deaths from these illnesses, with heart attacks and strokes accounting for 85% of those deaths.
Eliminating trans fats is thought to be a simple approach to lower the numbers.
“Eliminating trans fat is a technically, politically, and economically viable solution that saves lives at almost no expense to consumers or governments,” stated Tom Frieden, president of Resolve to Save Lives, a nonprofit organization that is collaborating with the WHO to address trans fat.
“There is no need for this dangerous substance, and when it disappears, no one notices.”
However, Frieden, a former head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that nations lacking rules ran the risk of turning into “dumping grounds” for trans fat.