• Trans fats have long been in the sights of international organizations empowered to implement regulations for healthy eating.
• In May 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a call for the global elimination of industrially produced trans fats (iTFA) to 2023.
A strategic map was also published at the time for countries to implement the elimination prompt, comprehensive and supported iTFA in the food industry.
Trans fats are the worst type of fat you can eat. Most trans fats are obtained through an industrial process that adds hydrogen to vegetable oil, which causes the oil to become semi-solid at room temperature. They are known as industrially produced trans fatty acid (iTFA) or partially hydrogenated oil (PHO), as we find it on the ingredient list of food products in stores.
There are also natural trans fats that are produced by bacteria in the gut of ruminants (cattle, goats, sheep), dairy and meat products derived from them containing small amounts of trans fats.
Utilizarea iTFA it has grown since the 1950s because it is a cheap fat and has a long shelf life. The use of iTFA as an ingredient has gained momentum since the 1960s, when the food industry began replacing animal fats with iTFA as a result of public health recommendations to reduce the consumption of saturated fats, such as those contained in butter.
However, healthier options are now available and iTFA can be substituted without additional cost or changes in the taste of the products. And because these fats have no known health benefits, there is no safe amount to eat, and they are a major trigger of cardiovascular disease and stroke worldwide.
Major health risks
Foods high in trans fats include margarine, microwave popcorn, frozen pizza, baked goods such as cakes, cookies, pies, frozen or refrigerated dough, fast food or fried foods.
A high intake of trans fats increases the risk of death by 34%. For every 1% increase in daily energy from trans fat, coronary heart disease mortality increases by 12%. According to statistics, worldwide elimination of iTFA will save an estimated 17,5 million lives over the next 25 years and prevent avoidable chronic diseases.
Substantial progress has been made in recent years to eliminate iTFA from food worldwide, which will protect 3,5 billion people from this toxic substance. Despite these efforts, much remains to be done.
Although there is no safe level of trans fat consumption, the World Health Organization recommends that total trans fat intake should not exceed 1% of total energy intake, which translates to less than 2,2 g per day for a 2.000 calorie diet.
Thus, in order to protect the global population from the risks of consuming trans fats, the WHO requested, as early as 2018, the global elimination of industrial trans fats by 2023, through the initiative REPLACE
The REPLACE initiative
REPLACE covers six broad areas of approach to the iTFA issue, namely:
• reviewing the sources of industrially produced trans fats and the context for the necessary change in the policies to obtain them;
• promoting the replacement of industrially produced trans fats with healthier fats and oils;
• creating the legislative framework or adopting regulatory measures to eliminate industrially produced trans fats;
• continuous assessment and monitoring of trans fat content in food products and reporting any changes in trans fat consumption among the population;
• raising the awareness of political decision-makers, producers, suppliers and consumers regarding the negative impact of trans fats on health;
• enforcing compliance with adopted policies and regulations.
More than 40 countries have now implemented it "best practices" on trans fats, policies to eliminate harmful fats still in use, protecting about 1,4 billion people worldwide.
In 2021, Brazil, Peru, Singapore, Turkey, the UK and the European Union have all introduced such measures. The Philippines is among the first lower-middle-income countries to adopt policies to eliminate trans fats from food; other countries that have done so include Bangladesh, India and Ukraine.
More and more states are taking action
By June 2023, the sale of food with more than 2 g per 100 g or 100 ml of iTFA will be banned in Philippines. The circular prohibits the manufacture, use, import, distribution and sale of prepackaged foods, ingredients and processed products that contain both partially hydrogenated oil (PHO) and high TFA content.
The UAE also recently announced that it aims to reduce average salt consumption by 30% and eliminate trans fats from the diet by 2030.
right OMS, replacing iTFA with healthier oils and fats is "cost-effective and feasible, and can be achieved without changing the taste of the food or its cost to the consumer".
Manufacturing companies in the food and raw materials industries support such regulations, and some companies have even gone ahead of the legislation by removing harmful fats from their products.
"Eliminating industrially produced trans fatty acids is a direct nutrition policy that will prevent heart attacks, save hundreds of thousands of lives, protect all consumers, reduce health inequalities and reduce pressure on already strained costs of health systems", emphasized the director general of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Article written by Gabriela Dan, Editor of Arta Albă
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