WHO to Eliminate Trans Fats by 2023: Why Are These Unsaturated Fats so Dangerous?

In 1912, Paul Sabatier a French chemist won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering the hydrogenation method, which helped in creating hydrogenated oils or trans fats as we know today. In an interesting twist of irony, more than a century later, we are at the brink of banishing trans fats completely from the face of the earth. World Health Organisation (WHO) has already laid out their guide to eliminate artificial trans fats from the world by 2023 in an initiative named REPLACE.

These unsaturated fats occur in small amounts in nature, like in dairy and meat products, but was artificially prepared and sold as an alternative to oil and butter since the 1950s. The fast-food industry relied heavily on trans fats to help improve the firmness, plasticity and shelf life of products such as bread, doughnuts, cookies, cakes and pastries. In India, hydrogenated vegetable oils such as vanaspati and margarine have been used for years in the preparation of snacks such as samosas, chaklis and nankatais.

Why Are Trans Fats Bad?

Trans fats have been steadily contributing to the burden of deaths due to non-communicable diseases worldwide. Research has proved that these fats are responsible for some deadly health problems like cardiovascular diseases, breast cancer, pregnancy complications, etc. Here’s a complete low down of the various health hazards of trans fats.

Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Diseases

Unlike good fats, trans fats lower your good cholesterol or HDL and raise the bad one or LDL. Many years of research have shown that populations who consume high levels of saturated fatty acids have relatively high levels of serum cholesterol and high prevalence of coronary heart diseases and atherosclerosis. In the United States alone, trans fatty acids from partially hydrogenated oils could be responsible for 30,000 to 100,000 premature coronary deaths per year.

Higher Chance of Breast Cancer

Studies also suggest that trans fats may also have a role to play causing breast cancers. In a survey conducted on 25,000 European women, those with the highest level of trans fats in their blood were two times more at risk of developing breast cancer than women with low levels.

Larger Babies

Pregnant women should be wary of consuming store-bought confectioneries and junk food. Studies show that trans fatty acids can cross the placenta and affect the foetus’ health. If the mother consumes trans fats during pregnancy, there will be high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the blood of new-born infants. There is also a connection between trans fat consumption and pregnancy-induced hypertension. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition centred on 1,400 pregnant women showed that high intake of trans fats during pregnancy caused the newborns to be larger at birth.

Deficiency of Essential Fatty Acids

Essential fatty acids are needed by the body to maintain good skin health, hormone production, regulation of blood pressure and blood clotting, and healthy thyroid and adrenal functions. High intake of trans fats has been shown to meddle with the metabolism of essential fatty acids, causing a deficiency in the body and impairment of many of the body’s processes. That’s because both trans fats and essential fatty acids compete with each other for the enzyme systems involved in their metabolism.

Colon Cancer Risk

A study says that trans fats increase the risk of colon cancer by 86 percent. Another 2001 study showed that men and women over the age of 67 who did not use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were 50 percent more likely to develop colon cancer. Post-menopausal women who consumed trans-fat-heavy diet had a two-fold risk of colon cancer if they weren’t taking hormone replacement therapy after menopause.

Increased Risk of Diabetes

Type II diabetes is one of the biggest metabolic disorders of the modern times. Science has reasons to believe that high consumption of trans fats could increase insulin resistance and increase the risk of diabetes.

Larger Waistlines

Obesity, a health problem that has taken epidemic proportions could be tied to trans fat consumption. Research says that the unsaturated fatty acids cause weight gain and abdominal fat deposits. Eating foods with trans fats will guarantee you a larger waistline, even if your caloric intake is normal and not excessive.

More Sneezing and Sniffling

Allergic attacks, asthma and asthmatic eczema in children aged between 13-14 years were studied in 1999. The researchers found that there was a positive link between trans fat consumption and these diseases, which goes to prove that these fats also worsen allergies.

Apart from these illnesses, trans fat consumption may also be responsible for illnesses like Alzheimer’s, cancer, diabetes, obesity, liver dysfunction, infertility in women and major depressive disorders.

What Does WHO Say about Trans Fat Intake?

WHO recommends that a person’s total trans-fat intake should be limited to less than 1 percent of his or her total energy intake. So if your daily caloric intake is 2000 calories, your trans-fat consumption should be 2.2g per day. WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said to the media that the organisation would work closely with governments, food industries, educational institutions and civil society to make food systems healthier for future generations.

While many developed countries such as Denmark have already restricted the use of the fats, strict actions are needed in developing and third world countries where regulation of these artificial fats is weak. That’s where WHO’s REPLACE Guideline comes into place. The elimination of trans fats will contribute towards UN’s Sustainable Development Goals that is committed to reducing premature deaths from non-communicable diseases by 2030.

(Reference:Trans fats—sources, health risks and alternative approach - A review)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 15, 2018 03:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).