SAVING THE HEART FROM TRANS FATTY ACIDS

Edited by, SANTHOSH KUMAR

With the pandemic having many lives at check, Non communicable diseases (NCD's) still continue to kill around 41 million people annually. NCD's include Cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, stroke, cancer etc. Among them cardiovascular accounts for about 65% of all deaths from NCD. Studying on the reasons for CVD revealed that the consumption of trans-fatty acid increases the risk of coronary heart disease and death. In India about half of the overall deaths due to CVD has a direct link with trans fatty acid consumption.

As per the WHO, Replacing the trans fatty acids with Unsaturated fatty acid reduces the risk of coronary artery disease to a larger extent by eliminating the negative effects on blood lipids that were found with trans fatty acids. TFA, the so called trans fatty acids also cause inflammation and endothelial dysfunction.

But India faces a great challenge in this TFA reduction and there is a prominent use of it in daily diet in several states. In India, the main source of trans fatty acid is VANASPATI, a vegetable ghee which is a Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.

With India having a drastic rise in oil consumption from year to year, the challenge in reducing the TFA consumption also rises. India had put forward a regulatory draft on TFA consumption but still the journey forward is full of challenges.

Many countries achieved success in reducing the TFA consumption by combined efforts and by compulsory TFA labelling, public awareness programs etc. If we need to reduce the disease burden in India, steps have to be taken in order to provide a more healthier food to people by elimination these kind of non essential dietary components.