On Monday, May 14th, the United Nations released a plan with the help of WHO to eliminate trans fat. Commonly eaten trans fats lead to more than 500,000 deaths every year, and the World Health Organization has a plan. After working together in the past to exterminate infectious diseases, the UN and the WHO now plans to attack one of the main links to chronic illnesses. With a plan to eliminate trans fat worldwide in a few years, both parties seem very confident and are looking towards the middle- and lower-income countries to pick up the fight.
WHO and UN Call for Trans Fat Elimination
Officials over the project see the change happening in less than five years, due to the fact that the work to deconstruct trans fat has already started. With seeing Denmark’s success over 15 years ago, WHO is confident with their plan, having more than 40 other high-income countries already working to get rid of heart-clogging additives. Both observational studies and clinical trials have found that trans fats increase your risk of heart disease significantly. Studies, conducted over 80,000 women, show that those who consume the most trans fats had a 40% higher risk of diabetes. The WHO is recommending that none of your daily calories should come from trans fat.
Trans Fat Replacements
So what can we do to replace trans fat in our lives? Try switching to saturated fats like butter in smaller amounts. Saturated vegetable oils, such as palm and coconut oils, all can be in your cooking as trans fat replacements. Good fats come mainly from vegetables, nuts, seeds, and fish. You can also try monounsaturated fats, which are found in olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, and avocados. You can also replace trans fat with polyunsaturated fats, which reduces harmful LDL cholesterols. These types of fats are in salmon, mackerel, and sardines, flaxseeds, walnuts, canola oil, and unhydrogenated soybean oil.
You won’t be able to tell the differences in what you’re eating only your heart will. With the eliminating industrial fat, we can prevent deaths from chronic diseases that have been on the sideline of importance. In 2015, the FDA called for the stop of selling trans fatty foods by June 18, 2018. So be prepared starting next month for the new ingredients in your favorite foods.