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Industrially-produced trans-fats biggest threats to diets; Cause CVDs
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Wednesday, 16 October, 2019, 13 : 00 PM [IST]
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George Cheriyan and Madhu Sudan Sharma
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World Food Day (WFD) is observed on October 16 every year. The theme of this year’s WFD is Our Actions are Our Future. It reemphasises the theory of Karma, which states, “We need to perform our karma (action) to get the desired outcome.” It also underlines the importance of nutritious food, which reminds us of the famous Charvak lines Yavatjeevamsukhamjeevet. Rinamkritvaghritampibet (which means, “As long as you are live, enjoy your life. Drink ghee even by borrowing money).
WFD 2019 also speaks about the need to get active, which reminds us of the famous line of Samskrit, YuktaharviharsyaYuktChesatsyakarmasu (which means, “Yoga, which relieves from sufferings helps only those who consume only require food and walks enough daily, performs karmas as per their capacity and have needful sleep”).
So not only do the things mentioned above refer to good food, but it is also well covered in our Vedic literature in detail. But unfortunately, today’s generation is almost disconnected with that wisdom which exists in the scriptures.
In the olden days, every one used to get blessings from their elder people as dirghayu?ibhava, which means, “Let you be in union of Shareera (body), Indriya (sense organs), Satva (mind) and Atma (soul), and live a long life.”
But, in today’s time nobody is sure about their long life, and hence, are reluctant to give such a blessing to others.
It was said earlier that the type of food we are eating out body, mind and soul also become like that only. As per one research, the younger generation, especially kids, are going away from traditional and plant-based food and towards industrially-produced foods, junk, processed, and street foods laden with preservatives.
Serving food has become a multi-billion business worldwide. Indian food has become very rich in terms of calorie intake, high fats, sugar and salts. In all such foods, one of the most dangerous food ingredient present is trans-fatty acids (TFAs), especially artificial trans-fats in the form of vegetable ghee, margarine and bakery shortenings, which directly contribute in malnutrition and the occurrence of cardio-vascular diseases (CVDs).
According to the recent Comprehensive National Nutritional Survey, in Rajasthan, 40.9 per cent children under five years are underweight and 44.4 percent are anaemic. It also revealed that 26 per cent children aged between five and nine and 36.8 per cent children aged between 10 and 19 are underweight in the state.
As per the survey, Rajasthan ranked 22nd among 30 states in prevalence of underweight children in the under-five year category. In this category, 31.5 per cent children are underweight, and 9.4 per cent are severely underweight.
According to the WHO (World Health Organization), approximately 5,40,000 deaths globally and 75,000 deaths in India each year can be attributed to intake of industrially produced TFAs.
The word trans-fatty acids is gaining negative publicity amongst consumers in recent times due to its harmful effects on human health, which, in turn, is the main contributor to the global burden of diseases.
Recognising the harmful health effects of trans-fats or TFAs, countries and states worldwide are designing policies aimed at eliminating the availability of TFAs in the fats and oils and in all the food products and food supply in general.
The Food Safety and Standards Association of India (FSSAI), which is the apex food regulatory body in India, has fixed the target to bring down TFAs in fats , oils and food products to not more than two per cent by weight by January 1, 2022, the year before the target fixed by WHO.
To achieve that, the apex regulator is in the process of revising various rules and regulations related to trans-fats. These include the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011.
The regulator has taken up a phased approach where the industry has to bring down the composition of TFAs to three per cent by weight by January 1, 2021, from the current allowed limit to five per cent and finally a year later to a global target of two per cent by weight.
But to achieve the target of elimination of TFAs from India, a well-coordinated multi-stakeholder engagement approach is required.
CUTS International, which is running a nationwide campaign to eliminate the TFAs from all foods and oils, is reaching out to the key stakeholders across India, working with schools, consumer organisations, industry associations, Indian Medical Associations, FSSAI and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with the use of modern tools of public engagement like social media for wider reach out.
In 2015, FSSAI limited TFAs to be not more than five per cent in vegetable fat/oil, margarine and fat spreads and hydrogenated vegetable oils with a deadline of compliance till 2017.
As of now, the FSSAI also does not have any data on compliance and is in the process of testing products to see if the industry has adhered to the regulation.
The framing of regulations without followed adherence and evidence of compliance builds up a trust deficit and allows space for more extensions of deadlines, and the same should not be the fate of the current proposed limits of three per cent, and eventually two per cent by 2022.
Regulating the industry is one means of bringing in change but the changing of the behaviour of the consumers, who are ready to choose the better food products at the cost of their so-called crispy taste of street and packaged foods is another area of challenge.
Though the initiatives of the FSSAI like the Eat Right Movement; Aaj Se Thoda Kam (Today onwards, a little less), the media campaign Heart Attach Rewind, Swasth Bharat Yatra, elimination of Trans-fats and signing voluntary pledges by food industries for the same, releasing the trans-fat logo and many more.
But consumers need to go back to their basics, and inculcate the habit of having traditional and home-based food (which contains less fats, sugar and salts), saying no to reheated oils and using microwave ovens to keep the food warm.
We hope that today’s WFD will definitely attract the attention of all old, young and kids towards the importance of healthy foods to keep their body, mind and soul fit and healthy.
(Cheriyan is director, CUTS International, and Sharma is senior programme officer, CUTS International.)
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