National food policies in the Islamic Republic of Iran aimed at control and prevention of noncommunicable diseases

Abstract

Background: Diet plays an important role in the risk of noncommunicable diseases. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, national activities were started after release of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) action plan on prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases. Aims: This study describes national food policies implemented by the government in order to reduce noncommunicable diseases in the country in line with WHO action plan. Methods: Newly adopted food standards and regulations linked to noncommunicable diseases from 2013 to 2018 were reviewed and the maximum permitted levels of salt and trans and saturated fats were compared in the old and new standards. Nutritional traffic light labelling to raise public awareness of healthy diets was evaluated. Results: Fifteen food standards associated with eight food items that make up a large share of the daily Iranian food basket and three that make up a small share were evaluated. Policies on salt included reduction in maximum permitted percentage in bread, cheese and doogh (a fermented drink) to 1%, 3% and 0.8%, respectively. For trans and saturated fats, maximum permitted percentages were set as 2–5% and 30–65% of edible oils and fats, respectively. Nutritional traffic light labelling, which indicates the content of salt, sugar, fat and trans fat in foods, has been mandatory for all foods since 2016. Conclusions: In view of the polices implemented to reduce the salt and fat/oil content of foods, significant decreases in noncommunicable diseases are expected in coming years in the country. However, further studies are needed to show the effectiveness of the interventions.

Food Behaviors and Its Association with Hypertension and Cardiovascular Diseases in Sowme’eh Sara (North of Iran): The PERSIAN Guilan Cohort Study (PGCS)

“…This healthful behavior was possibly driven following the catastrophe in 2014 when large quantities of palm oil were imported to the country and used in production of oil products such as frying oil. Since then, oil industries have tried to reformulate the frying oils and introduced palm-free products thorough which people has been informed by the government and social advertisements ( Moslemi et al, 2020 ). Mandatory insertion of a nutritional traffic light which shows the amount of trans fatty acids in the products is another conductive approach in training people to prepare a healthier food basket ( Moslemi et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Since then, oil industries have tried to reformulate the frying oils and introduced palm-free products thorough which people has been informed by the government and social advertisements ( Moslemi et al, 2020 ). Mandatory insertion of a nutritional traffic light which shows the amount of trans fatty acids in the products is another conductive approach in training people to prepare a healthier food basket ( Moslemi et al, 2020 ). More importantly, there was a tendency to use herbal infusions especially in rural participants.…”

“…Population attributable risk (%)= P e ×(RR−1) Pe×(RR−1)+1 where, P e is proportion of population exposed to a risk factor (that is salt intake higher than 5 g/d in the current work, which was determined by the WHO (2012) (Fig. 1), and RR is relative risk of the risk factor with regard to specific disease (1.14 for CVDs and 1.23 for stroke, in the current work) (Strazzullo et al, 2009;Moslemi et al, 2020).…”

“…Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have increased in Iran in recent decades of which cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the largest percentage ( Moslemi et al, 2020 ). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “healthy diet” is one of four behavioral factors in prevention and control of NCDs ( Kopčeková et al, 2020 ).…”

“…In this regard, dietary habits consisting of types of foods and their preparation method have great impact on health status of individuals ( Mahdavi-Roshan et al, 2016 ; Mahdavi-Roshan et al, 2017 ). Following the global action plans aimed to decrease NCDs by governments, reformulation of industrial food products and changing the food style to deliver limited risk factors by diet have been initiated in Iran in recent years ( Jamali et al, 2020 ; Moslemi et al, 2020 ). On the other hand, modernization of societies toward changes in food habits and consumption of less-nutritious foods has also increased the rate of metabolic syndromes (accounted as 38% in Iran) which are associated with incidence of NCDs ( Faramarzi et al, 2019 ).…”