According to a new status report from the World Health Organization (WHO), five billion people globally remain unprotected from harmful trans fat, increasing their risk of heart disease and death. Despite the global goal for its total elimination in 2023, progress towards this target has been slow, with only 43 countries having implemented best-practice policies for tackling trans fat in food, protecting 2.8 billion people globally.
Industrially produced trans fat is commonly found in packaged foods, baked goods, cooking oils and spreads. Trans fat intake is responsible for up to 500 000 premature deaths from coronary heart disease each year around the world.
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, including Pakistan, Egypt, and Iran. While most trans fat elimination policies to date have been implemented in higher-income countries, an increasing number of middle-income countries are implementing or adopting these policies, including Argentina, Bangladesh, India, Paraguay, the Philippines and Ukraine.
However, the situation is dire in Africa, as best-practice policies are only being considered in Nigeria and Sri Lanka in 2023. If passed, Nigeria would be the second and most populous country in Africa to put a best-practice trans fat elimination policy in place. No low-income countries have yet adopted a best-practice policy to eliminate trans fat.
WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said “Trans fat has no known benefit, and huge health risks that incur huge costs for health systems. Eliminating trans fat is cost effective and has enormous benefits for health. Put simply, trans fat is a toxic chemical that kills, and should have no place in food. It’s time to get rid of it once and for all.”