Five billion people exposed to trans-fat, leading cause for heart disease
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus addressed the press at the World Health Organization’s headquarters in Geneva and called out countries globally who are unable to curtail the consumption of trans-fat.
According to WHO director, even though 43 countries which constitute to a total of 2.8 billion people have implemented policies to curtail the use of trans-fat in the food, other five billion still remain unprotected.
He said, “Trans-fat is a toxic chemical that kills, and should have no place in the food.” “It’s time to get rid of it once and for all.”
He also stressed that, “Trans-fat has no known benefit, and huge health risks that incur huge costs for health systems,”
Trans-fat is used in the food to prolong the shelf life and is cheap. WHO in their annual report have named nine countries with the highest rate of heart disease deaths due to consumption of trans-fat. Those countries are, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and South Korea. The report also mentioned that the best trans-fat elimination policies are being implemented in parts of Europe and America.
Trans-fat is commonly found in packaged foods, fast food, cooking oils and spreads.