A World Health Organisation report puts Bangladesh among the 15 countries with the world’s highest coronary heart disease burden due to trans-fat.
The “WHO report on global trans fat elimination 2020” said the burden of deaths from coronary heart diseases due to trans-fat intake in Bangladesh is 4.41 percent.
Among those 15 countries, the USA, Latvia, Canada, and Slovenia have adopted best practice policies meaning that they have limited the maximum level of trans-fat in all fats, oils, and foods to 2 g per 100 g of total fat contents, or banned the production and use of partially hydrogenated oil (PHO).
WHO has called on the remaining 11 countries (Bangladesh, Iran, India, Mexico, Nepal, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Bhutan and Ecuador) to act immediately to protect their populations from the harms of trans-fat.
The report says that 58 countries so far have introduced laws that will protect 3.2 billion people from the harmful substance by the end of 2021.
But more than 100 countries still need to take actions to remove these harmful substances from their food supplies.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus said at the virtual launching event of the report on Thursday that, “In a time when the whole world is fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, we must make every effort to protect people’s health. That must include taking all steps possible to prevent non-communicable diseases that can make them more susceptible to the coronavirus, and cause premature death.”
He further said that: “Our goal of eliminating trans fats by 2023 must not be delayed.”
Dr Tom Frieden, President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, said at the launching event that, “With the global economic downturn, more than ever, countries are looking for best buys in public health… Making food trans fat-free, saves lives and saves money, and, by preventing heart attacks, reduces the burden on health care facilities.”
Two encouraging trends emerged in this year’s report.
Firstly, countries are overwhelmingly adopting best-practice policies rather than less restrictive ones while new policy measures were passed and/or introduced.
Brazil, Turkey and Nigeria all meet WHO’s criteria for best practice trans fat elimination and enacted their policies past year.
Secondly, regional regulations that set standards for multiple countries are becoming increasingly popular for example alliances and cooperation i.e. the European Union (EU), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Gulf the Cooperation Council (GCC).
Despite the encouraging progress, most best-practice policy actions have been in high-income countries and upper-middle-income countries yet no low-income or lower-middle-income countries have done so.
In Bangladesh, 92 percent of sampled PHO brands in Dhaka City were found to contain trans-fat levels above the limit of 2 percent set by the WHO in a study recently conducted by researchers from the National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute (NHFHRI).
Analysis of the samples even showed a staggering high concentration of trans-fat with a maximum 20.9g per 100 grams, which is more than 10 times the WHO-set threshold.
Without regulation on trans-fats, the public health of Bangladesh is posed with deadly risks.
Eyeing on that, research and advocacy organization PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) has urged for limiting trans-fat to 2 percent of total fat in all fats, oils, and foods and called for the speedy implementation of policies on trans-fat regulation.