Use of synthetic fat, Pakistan among the most dangerous countries in the world

A recent report of the World Health Organization has warned that Pakistan is among the countries in the world where a large part of the country’s population is at risk due to the consumption of industrially produced fats or fats that are harmful to health.

It should be noted that this fat produced at industrial level is usually used in cooking oil, bakery products and canned food.

In the year 2018, the World Health Organization directed all countries of the world to eliminate harmful trans fatty acids by 2023. The reason is that these fatty acids cause heart diseases. The rate of people dying as a result of heart disease has reached 500,000 annually.

According to the recent report of the World Health Organization, 9 out of 16 countries in the world have a high death rate due to heart diseases caused by trans fatty acids. These countries include Australia, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and South Korea. These countries are not following the best precautionary policies.

Now the World Health Organization has asked these countries to take immediate steps to implement the best preventive policies.

However, 43 countries, with a total population of 2.8 billion, have adopted the best preventive policies to control obesity, but most of the world is still unsafe. Grows.

The World Health Organization has clarified that trans fats are a toxic chemical that can lead to death, therefore it should not be included in the diet at all. Now is the time to get rid of this toxic chemical immediately, forever.

On the other hand, the World Health Organization admitted in its annual report that getting rid of trans fats is still a long way off, and this goal is difficult to achieve in the near future. W Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that trans fats are not beneficial to human health, it can have bad effects on health.

This results in increased costs to the health system. Conversely, eliminating trans fat will reduce health system costs and have numerous benefits for human health.

Director of Nutrition and Food Security of the World Health Organization Francisco Branca said that 60 countries with a total population of 3.4 billion or 43% of the population have policies to control obesity. 43 out of 60 countries are adopting the best prevention policies to control obesity.

What is Trans Fatty Acid?

Trans fats are called ‘trans unsaturated fatty acids’ or ‘trans fatty acids’. It is a fat extracted from various vegetables etc. that is added to canned foods, cakes, hot chocolates etc. to preserve them on store shelves for a long period of time. When trans fat is extracted from vegetables, etc., it is in an oil-like form.

Then it is converted into solid fat. In the next step, such solid fat is sold in the markets in the form of margarine and banaspati ghee.

How is trans fat harmful to human health?

The use of fats extracted from vegetables (banasapati ghee and margarine etc.) started about 100 years ago. After 1950s its use increased rapidly. Its harmful effects were ignored even though the governments of that time knew about it. That trans fat is not even nominally nutritious, but is used in various foods simply because it is cheap.

Until today, trans fat has been used in most countries of the world, despite its obvious harm to human health. It is a crime in which companies are directly complicit and the governments that allow these companies to manufacture trans fat are complicit.

Health experts around the world agree that there is a strong link between trans fat and heart disease. A review in the New England Journal of Medicine found a strong link between trans fat consumption and heart disease.

In 1994, about 30,000 people who died of heart disease in the United States were found to have a diet high in trans fat.

Then the experts estimated that by 2006, the number of deaths due to this artificial fat will reach one lakh annually. The government then became active against the use of this artificial fat.

Experts say that artificial fats increase the level of cholesterol in the body.

One review reported that removing trans fat from foods can reduce the incidence of heart attacks and deaths by 6 to 19 percent. Trans-fatty acids increase LDL (bad cholesterol) and lower HDL (good cholesterol).

In fact, the use of artificial fats interferes with the ability to metabolize essential fatty acids for human health, including omega-3.

As a result, changes in the phospholipid fatty acid composition of the walls of the heart’s arteries occur, leading to heart disease. This fact has been proven, but how much role does it play in causing diabetes?

It is still being researched. Experts agree that oil extracted on an artificial basis as a whole has very bad effects on human health. These fatty acids are widely used in restaurants. In areas where people eat and drink more in such restaurants, obesity, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes are seen more.

Although there is no consensus on the relationship between trans fat and type 2 diabetes, a research report has shown that high consumption of this artificial fat can lead to type 2 diabetes.

All experts agree that trans fat causes obesity, especially bloating. In one study, monkeys fed artificial fat for six years gained more than seven percent of their body weight. On the other hand, the monkeys that were fed real fat only gained 1.8% of their weight.

According to a research report published in the ‘Archives of Neurology’, saturated fat and unsaturated fat (trans fat) cause Alzheimer’s disease. It is a disease that affects memory, thinking ability and behavior. It has a very bad effect.

A research report published in 2006 stated that trans fat also causes prostate cancer. A report from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition found that trans fat consumption increased the risk of bladder cancer by 75%.

A research report published in 2007 found that trying to get energy from trans fats instead of carbohydrates is dangerous for women. As a result, the risks of infertility increase to 73%.

Experts in Spain analyzed the diets of 12,059 people during a six-year review. It found that people who ate the most artificial fats had a 48 percent higher risk of depression than those who ate no artificial fats.

What are the best preventive policies?

The World Health Organization has been warning against excessive use of artificial fats for a long time. The guidelines issued by the organization do not ban trans fat completely, but rather limit its consumption.

For example, when it comes to optimal prevention policies, this means that all foods contain no more than 2 grams of industrially processed trans fat per 100 grams of total fat. Similarly, such policies require banning the production or banning the use of hydrogenated oils, the largest source of trans fat.

Actions by governments around the world

After evidence of diseases caused by excess consumption of trans fats and guidelines issued by the World Health Organization, governments around the world began to develop regulations.

They mandated all food companies to list ingredients clearly on their products, especially those using artificial fats. They were told that their diet should contain no more than 2 percent trans fat.

Denmark was the first country in the world to pass a law against trans fat, and it is the only country in the world that allows the lowest amount of trans fat to be consumed – just one percent. The Danish government’s efforts have resulted in a 50% reduction in the number of deaths from heart disease over the past twenty years.

California was the first state in the United States to completely ban trans fat from various sources. The California government imposed heavy fines on companies using trans fat.

The European Union has also tried to target less than 2% of trans fat per 100g in all its regions. Even in the UK, rules and regulations have been set in light of the World Health Organization’s guidelines, raising public awareness against artificial fat to such an extent that people have started avoiding its use on their own. Some retailers here carry trans-fat-free products.

No food could enter Saudi Arabia that does not have a trans fat rate in accordance with the standards set there. In 2020, the Saudi government imposed a complete ban on artificial fats. Trans fat has been completely banned in Switzerland since 2008.

Sweden is also going to join the countries of the world where artificial fats are completely banned. The Argentine government also imposed a complete ban on the use of trans fat in 2014. This resulted in savings of $100 million annually in health system costs. Similarly, the governments of Australia, Austria and Belgium also tried to ensure the minimum use of artificial fats. Brazil has also mandated that food companies clearly list the amount of trans fat on the product. Hydrogenated oil was banned in Canada. Remember that this oil is used as the main ingredient in the production of trans fat.

Although Pakistan’s Ministry of Health has also promised the World Health Organization that it will bring a substantial reduction in the use of trans fat by June 2023, in the meantime, the government and its institutions have failed to improve public awareness against trans fat. Just tried. This is the reason why the use of margarine and banaspati ghee is increasing in the Pakistani society.

Despite the rising awareness against trans fat around the world, health experts here are also not pushing to develop such policies through which food manufacturers are restricted to 2 percent per 100 grams.

Readers! Our governments are busy with other “more important issues”, which is probably why they don’t have time to formulate and implement policies to protect public health. You should completely ban the use of all kinds of synthetic grease within your home. So that you and your loved ones can live a healthy life and diseases and their treatment will not be a burden on your household economy.