Is Trans Fatty Acid Still an Issue for Policy Makers in Iran? A Technical Report

Abstract

A B S T R A C TIn recent decades, the oil industry has changed its direction toward vegetable oil use instead of animal fats due to various reasons such as a small numbers of animal fat resources and high saturated fatty acids content in animal fats. Therefore, different modification processes have been used to alter the physicochemical properties of vegetable oils, which lack functionality and oxidative stability in their native form. Hydrogenation process is a common way to produce plastic fats with different functionality in order to formulate different bakery fats, spreads and margarines. Unfortunately, formation of trans fatty acids (TFAs), which have several negative impacts on human health, is the consequence of this process. Therefore, international and national organizations have established legislations and policies to reduce or preferably eliminate TFAs from hydrogenated vegetable oils.The objective of this study is firstly to review international and national legislations as well as the current status of TFAs in food products in Iran and worldwide, to discuss the gaps. Secondly, the strategies to address these gaps will be proposed. Through this article we will show that despite great efforts having been made in Iran, there is still room to make the documented policies and their conformities with each other to minimize the amount of TFAs in food products much more efficient.

The Effect of Edible Lipids on Atherogenic Index of Plasma: Results From RaNCD Cohort Study

“…The results of Nour et al study in Egypt on hydrogenated vegetable oil are somewhat different from the results of our study that is due to the fact that Egyptian hydrogenated vegetable oil is made from palm oil while Iranian hydrogenated vegetable oil is made from a mixture of soybean oil, canola, corn, etc [5,13,16]. As we know, palm oil is source of atherogenic fatty acids naturally.…”

“…In contrast with our nding, the results of a randomized clinical trial on 206 Iranian adults are shown that margarine consumption has decreased the amount of AIP slightly. According to Iranian standards 5 types of margarine are produced with different amounts of Trans fatty acids [13], Perhaps the difference of results is related to the type of consumed margarine in the two studies.…”

“…This difference maybe reasonable because their study carried out at 2009 while we collected data at 2013, Trans fatty acids reduction's program was implemented in Iran especially at 2013 so that the amount of trans fatty acids in hydrogenated vegetable oils should be less than 2 percent. Asgary el al reported that the amount of trans fatty acids in hydrogenated vegetable oils was about 30% at 2009 [13,14].…”

“…These oils are available as hydrogenated or un-hydrogenated (liquid). Un-hydrogenated oil is also available for both frying and cooking [13,14]. In the west of Iran, ghee is commonly known as "Kermanshahi oil" or "Yellow oil" or "Kermanshahi roghan" which is produced from melting of yogurt butter.…”

Assessment and prioritization of the WHO “best buys” and other recommended interventions for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases in Iran

“…In terms of regulations, the national standards for salt, sugar, and fat in processed food were revised as follows: salt intake to be reduced from 2.3 to 1%, while sugar and carbonate in industrial juices to be reduced to less than 10%. The SCHFS approved a reduction of palm oil import by 30% as well as the use of trans fatty acids in the confectionery and chocolate industry to less than 10% [58][59][60][61]. More than 1400 nutrition counselors were hired within PHC centers.…”