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Five billion people not adequately protected: WHO warns of harmful trans fats

2023-01-23T11:32:16.863Z


Many baked goods or fried potato products contain toxic trans fats - although there are actually alternatives. According to the World Health Organization, half a million people die prematurely every year.


Baked goods like Berliners or donuts often contain a lot of trans fats

Photo:

Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Despite all the improvements: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), many foods worldwide still contain too many harmful, industrially produced trans fats.

According to an interim report by the organization, five of the eight billion people in the world are not adequately protected.

Trans fats are responsible for the premature death of half a million people each year from coronary heart disease.

"Trans fats are toxic substances that kill," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

"It's time to ban them from food once and for all." The WHO called on governments that haven't already done so to drastically restrict the use of trans fats.

Countries with a high disease burden include Egypt, Pakistan and South Korea.

The report confirmed positive developments in Argentina, Bangladesh, India, Paraguay, the Philippines – and also in the Ukraine.

At the same time, the WHO called on major suppliers of oils and fats to remove industrially produced trans fats from products sold to food manufacturers around the world.

The World Health Organization had actually wanted to ensure that the harmful components largely disappear from the food chain worldwide by 2023.

Since 2021, only foods that contain less than two grams of industrial trans fats per 100 grams of fat may be sold in the EU.

Denmark had already drastically restricted industrial trans fats around 20 years ago - and according to WHO information, then recorded a decline in cardiovascular diseases.

Trans fats or trans fatty acids are unsaturated fatty acids that can arise through natural and food technological processes.

According to the German Society for Nutrition (DGE), a high intake has a negative effect on health, as the risk of a lipid metabolism disorder is increased.

The risk of coronary heart disease also increases.

Baked goods and confectionery, fried potato products

In food technology, spreadable products such as margarine were produced from liquid oils using so-called hydrogenation, whereby unsaturated fatty acids are converted into saturated fatty acids.

According to the DGE, in addition to hydrogenation, trans fatty acids can also be produced during the thermal treatment of vegetable oils.

According to the DGE, the foods that can contain significant amounts of trans fatty acids include baked goods and confectionery as well as fried potato products and ready meals.

sol/dpa

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2023-01-23

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