Press. Voanews.
For the first
time, the World Health Organization is taking steps to eliminate a substance
that leads to a non-communicable disease: heart disease. The World Health
Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced a plan
Monday to eliminate trans fat from the global food supply by 2023.
Trans fat raises
LDL, the "bad" type of cholesterol, and increases the risk of heart
disease and stroke. Trans fat also reduces the amount of HDL, the
"good" cholesterol that protects your heart. Trans fat is
artificially made. Liquid vegetable oils are processed with hydrogen to produce
a solid fat, like stick margarine or ghee, which is frequently used in south
Asian cooking. Trans fat is often present in snack foods like potato chips,
baked foods, crackers and fried foods.
The advantages
of trans fat is that it is cheap, lasts longer than natural oils, can be heated
and reheated over and over again, and it's almost ideal for making baked goods.
"Almost" because it can kill you. WHO estimates that every year
consumption of trans fat leads to more than 500,000 deaths from cardiovascular
disease.
At his
announcement at WHO headquarters in Geneva Monday, Ghebreyesus asked, "Why
should our children have such an unsafe ingredient in their foods?” Several
high-income countries have virtually eliminated industrially produced trans fat
through legally imposed limits on the amount that can be contained in packaged
food.
Denmark, the
first country to do it, saw a marked decline in deaths from cardiovascular
disease. Then other countries followed Denmark's lead. About 40 countries
currently have laws banning trans fat. Dr. Tom Frieden, former head of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, joined Ghebreyesus at the rollout
of the WHO program. Frieden now heads a nonprofit called "Resolve to Save
Lives." He told VOA, "We estimate that if trans fat is eliminated, 17
million lives will be saved over a 25-year period."
Frieden was
behind the initiative to get trans fat banned in New York City, prior to
joining the CDC, when he was the city's health commissioner. "Trans fat is
tasteless. It’s solid at room temperature, but it's also solid at body
temperature in your coronary arteries," he said. "Trans fat is an
unnecessary toxic chemical that kills, and there’s no reason people around the
world should continue to be exposed.”
Frieden also
said it is easy and inexpensive to replace trans fats with healthier oils. More
than 80 percent of deaths from cardiovascular disease are estimated to occur in
low- and middle-income countries, according to a 2014 study published in the
New England Journal of Medicine.
The WHO
initiative, called REPLACE, calls on countries to implement six strategies. REview
dietary sources of industrially produced trans fats and the landscape for
required policy change. Promote the replacement of industrially produced trans
fats with healthier fats and oils.
Legislate or
enact regulatory actions to eliminate industrially produced trans fats. Assess
and monitor trans fats content in the food supply and changes in trans fat
consumption in the population. Create awareness of the negative health impact
of trans fats among policymakers, producers, suppliers and the public.
Enforce
compliance of policies and regulations. Although trans fat is present in cheese
and other dairy products and in some meats, the amounts are so small that it is
not considered dangerous.