Staff Reporter :
Experts stressed on reducing industrially produced trans fatty acids (TFA) or trans fat from foods for decreasing risks of premature death from heart diseases in the country.
They said that the TFA is an unwanted food element, toxic for human health.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on nations to eliminate industrially produced trans-fat from the global food supply chain by 2023.
Following the target set by WHO, the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) has notified the “Limiting Trans Fatty Acids in Foodstuffs Regulations, 2021” in the government gazette on 29 November last year.
The regulation stipulates that after December 31 of 2022 no oils, fats, or foodstuffs in the country can contain trans fat exceeding 2pc of its total fat pc contents.
Violation of this law will be penalised with imprisonment of no more than three years or a fine of not more than BDT 12 lakh or both under the jurisdiction of the Food Safety Act. In presence of the Minister of Food and the Secretary of Food, a discussion meeting on the road-map of implementation of the regulation was held on December 6 last.
Speaking about implementing the regulation within the set timeframe of 2023, the BFSA Chairman Md. Abdul Kayowm Sarker said that the regulation has been enacted after discussing with all the stakeholders. So, we hope that its implementation will be smoother.
Sources said intake of TFA with food increases low density lipoprotein (LDL) dubbed as ‘bad cholesterol’ in the bloodstream, and simultaneously lowers the high density lipoprotein (HDL) or ‘good cholesterol’ in blood.
Excessive TFA deposits bad cholesterol in the arteries and blocks the blood flow in the body, resulting in increased risks of heart diseases. Intake of excessive TFA can give way to cardiovascular diseases, heart attacks, death from heart diseases, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, prostate cancer, dementia, and cognitive impairment sources said.
Moreover, studies have found that TFA from food is also responsible for anger, mental stress, aggressive attitudes, irritability, annoyance, and even risks of depression among teenagers.
It has been estimated that intake of trans fat-laden food took the toll of 12,000 deaths from heart diseases in Bangladesh in 2019.
WHO estimates that around 500,000 people die of heart diseases globally each year due to consumption of excessive TFA with food.
Muhammad Ruhul Quddus, the Bangladesh Country Lead of international public health development organisation the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) stressed that there is no alternative of eliminating trans fat from the food supply in order to save the people of the country from a preventable cause of cardiovascular diseases, and, thus safeguard public health.
