Guilty pleasure: Trans fats such as those in burgers and fries are considered the worst type of fat to consume as they lower healthy cholesterol. — The Straits Times/ANN
A STUDY by the World Health Organisation in collaboration with IPB University in Bogor has found that many food products in the country contain high levels of harmful trans fats, which have been found to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease by clogging arteries.
Cardiovascular diseases – including stroke, coronary heart disease and hypersensitive heart disease – are the leading causes of death in the country, killing around 651,400 people a year.
The conditions also cost the state dearly, with the Healthcare and Social Security Agency spending about half of the national health insurance budget on some 14 million heart disease patients in 2022.
The recent WHO study found that nearly 9% of the 130 popular foods and snacks it tested contained trans fatty acids above 2% of the product’s total fat by weight, the maximum level the organisation considers safe.
The high trans fat content is found both in factory-made snacks, such as biscuits and wafers, and street foods like martabak (thick pancakes).
Lead researcher Didah Nur Faridah said at a press conference on May 6 that in some of the foods tested, trans fats made up some 22% of the total fat content.
“To make things worse, only a few of these products properly listed the trans fat content on the packaging.”
Industrially produced trans fats are often used in packaged foods, baked goods, cooking oils and spreads to keep foods fresh for longer.
Trans fats are considered the worst type of fat to consume as they increase the harmful low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level and lower heart-protecting high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
Trans fats in the bloodstream can lead to blocked arteries, coronary heart disease and stroke, and according to the WHO, the fats are responsible for around 500,000 premature deaths from coronary heart disease a year.
In 2018, the WHO called on countries to gradually wipe out trans fats by 2023.
The organisation recommended two measures: a mandatory national limit of 2g of industrially produced trans fats per 100g of total fat in all foods and a national ban on the production or use of partially hydrogenated oils.
In response to the recent findings, the government plans to issue a regulation to phase out industrially produced trans fatty acids in food products nationwide.
Deputy Health Minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono said his ministry would cooperate with related authorities, including with the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency, for the phaseout. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
