The present efforts aimed at raising awareness on dangers of consumption of industrial trans fatty foods (iTFA) should be intensified. According to experts, iTFAs are unsaturated fats chemically manufactured via passage of hydrogen through oils for them to be used as solid fats.
Speaking at press conference on Tuesday, the Technical Adviser TFA-Free Nigeria Campaign, Network for Health Equity and Development (NHED), Dr Jerome Mafeni, said the momentum and interest generated so far by stakeholders and policy makers should be sustained through constant engagement.
Reviewing how far Nigeria has gone in the process of doing this, he said the National Agency for Foods, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) should expedite the process for completing its participation in the World Health Organisation (WHO TFA) laboratory testing so as to enhance the capacity to carry out testing for transfat in food in the country and the West African sub region.
He said work should continue in the assessment of the level of TFA in Nigerian foods to build support for policy action as well as establish a baseline for measuring progress.
Mafeni emphasized that “Enforcement can be achieved through oversight activities such as inspections, audits, and/or sampling carried out by the NAFDAC and Nigerian Standards Organisation (SON).”
He, therefore called on both government agencies to speed up their works to achieve this.
While acknowledging that consumption of foods high in trans-fat contribute largely to the increase in cardiovascular diseases, the Executive Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Mr. Akinbode Oluwafemi, quoting the WHO figures said cardiovascular disease account for nearly half of all Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) deaths, which is one of the world’s leading cause of death but are largely preventable if citizens adopt healthy lifestyles and healthy diet.
According to Oluwafemi, “The world over, critical attention is being paid to the content of food consumed. Different countries have adopted measures to reduce the trans-fat content in the foods consumed by their citizens. That is why we say consuming healthy and safe food is non-negotiable.” To ensure this is achieved, he added that the #TransfatFreeNigeria campaign has spearheaded awareness creation on the dangers of trans fats consumption and the need for effective regulation to check trans fats in foods.
The campaign has also developed Public Service Announcements (PSA), issued press releases and articles periodically to educate the public and sustain the pressure for speedy regulation to address the trans-fats menace.
He said to ensure reports on trans fats are in-depth, CAPPA organised trainings for media partners to sharpen their investigation skills and expose them to different perspectives of the trans fats debate.
In her contributions, the Nigeria Coordinator of the Global Health Advocacy Incubator, (GHAI) one of the partner organisations, Joy Amafah, lauded the efforts of NAFDAC, the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), and other stakeholders for taking the great initiative to protect the lives of Nigerians from the health hazards of trans fatty acids.
She said citizens can only be saved if there are strict regulations and adherence to the regulations. According to her, “Nigerians will only be safe from toxic chemical trans fat once strict, mandatory limits are fully implemented in accordance with WHO recommendations. We would also like to encourage the Nigeria policy makers to learn from the experiences of other countries who have had to go through this process of updating their regulations multiple times, due to certain omissions or oversight on important areas in the regulations/policy (whichever the case may be) that could aid effective implementation and enforcement.”
A WHO research says iTFAs increase overall mortality, particularly cardiovascular mortality (Death due to heart and blood system-related conditions). According to it, over half a million deaths per year are attributable to iTFA consumption. Therefore, WHO recommends that TFAs, both natural and industrial, do not exceed 1% of energy intake per day.
