The World Health Organization has made a very welcome announcement: it aims to end the consumption of industrially produced trans fat globally by 2023. It estimates that up to 500,000 deaths are caused annually by eating this artificial fat, often as a result of heart disease.
Trans fat is a type of unsaturated fat mainly produced by the hydrogenation of vegetable oil. The resulting solid fat has been used to make foods such as margarine and vegetable shortening. Small amounts of trans fat occur naturally in meat from ruminants like cattle and sheep, as well as in dairy products like butter, cheese and cream, but it is the artificially generated kind that the WHO is targeting.
Unsaturated fat is normally the healthy option but trans fat is worse than saturated fat at raising the level of 鈥渂ad cholesterol鈥� (LDL) in blood. It also lowers the 鈥済ood cholesterol鈥� (HDL) and may have other adverse effects, such as triggering inflammation.
Advertisement
The intake of trans fat increased from the 1950s as consumers were persuaded to replace saturated spreading and cooking fats like butter and lard partly with 鈥渉ealthier鈥� hydrogenated margarine and vegetable shortening as part of efforts to lower blood cholesterol levels.
Altered recipes
In 1986, the average intake of trans fat in the UK was estimated at around 5 grams a day or 2.2 per cent of food calories, but some individuals may have been taking in 25 to 30 grams a day. In 1991, UK dietary guidelines suggested that no more than 2 per cent of food energy should come from trans fat, and in 2018 the WHO recommended no more than 1 per cent.
Food manufacturers in many countries have responded over recent years to growing consumer awareness of the downsides of industrial trans fat by altering recipes. For example, none of the spreading fats now sold in the UK contain them. In March 2012, many major UK food producers, retailers and fast food chains agreed to voluntarily remove hydrogenated oil from their products by the end of that year. Consumption of trans fat in the UK has now fallen to 0.5 per cent of calories.
Many affluent countries went further and legislated to eliminate hydrogenated oils from food. Denmark led the way in 2003 and effectively banned the sale of products containing artificial trans fat. Similar legislation followed in Austria, Hungary, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. In 2013, the US Food and Drug Administration announced that the ingredient was no longer 鈥済enerally recognised as safe鈥�, and in 2015 it gave food manufacturers three years to reformulate their products to eliminate it.
However, the WHO says that intakes in some parts of the world are still a problem, particularly in South Asian countries; many Indian street foods and packaged snacks are high in hydrogenated vegetable oils with no warning for consumers.
The health costs of eating industrial trans fat have been emerging for many years. It is high time to make them history everywhere.
Read more: Time is right for a global ban to end trans fat health scandal
