Presence of trans-Fatty Acids Containing Ingredients in Pre-Packaged Foods and the Availability of Reported trans-Fat Levels in Kenya and Nigeria

Abstract

In most African countries, the prevalence of industrially produced trans-fatty acids (iTFA) in the food supply is unknown. We estimated the number and proportion of products containing specific (any hydrogenated edible oils) and non-specific (vegetable fat, margarine, and vegetable cream) ingredients potentially indicative of iTFAs among pre-packaged foods collected in Kenya and Nigeria. We also summarized the number and proportion of products that reported trans-fatty acids levels and the range of reported trans-fatty acids levels. In total, 99 out of 5668 (1.7%) products in Kenya and 310 out of 6316 (4.9%) products in Nigeria contained specific ingredients indicative of iTFAs. Bread and bakery products and confectioneries in both countries had the most foods that contained iTFAs-indicative ingredients. A total of 656 products (12%) in Kenya and 624 products (10%) in Nigeria contained non-specific ingredients that may indicate the presence of iTFAs. The reporting of levels of trans-fatty acids was low in both Kenya and Nigeria (11% versus 26%, respectively, p < 0.001). With the increasing burden of ischemic heart disease in Kenya and Nigeria, the rapid adoption of WHO best-practice policies and the mandatory declaration of trans-fatty acids are important for eliminating iTFAs.

Estimated health benefits, costs and cost-effectiveness of eliminating dietary industrial trans fatty acids in Kenya: cost-effectiveness analysis

“…We estimated this number using a large nutrition composition database, the 2018 Kenyan FoodSwitch database (which includes products collected over 2 months in 2018 in five major supermarket chains in Nairobi) 35. Products were identified that contained any terms indicative of iTFA in the ingredient list (ie, ‘partially hydrogenated fat’, ‘hydrogenated vegetable oil’ or ‘hydrogenated’), as previously described 36. Of a total 5668 unique packaged food products with ingredient information included in the analysis, 99 products (1.7%) contained specific ingredients indicative of iTFA 36.…”

“…We also evaluated the impact of 50% lower or higher mean and SD of preintervention intakes. It is possible that the prevalence of iTFA among foods in Kenya is greater than what was estimated (n=99 products) using the FoodSwitch database 36. In the sensitivity analysis, the number of products potentially containing iTFA was assumed to be twice as many (ie, n=198 products) as identified in the FoodSwitch database 36.…”

Estimated health benefits, costs and cost-effectiveness of eliminating industrial trans-fatty acids in Nigeria: cost-effectiveness analysis

“…We estimated industry costs for reformulation as previously described,11 12 based on our recent food supply analysis, where we identified 310 packaged food products potentially containing iTFA in the Nigerian supermarkets (online supplemental appendix). 21 All costs were inflated to 2019 values using World Bank consumer price indices for Nigeria 22…”

“…We also evaluated the impact of 50% lower or higher mean and SD of preintervention intakes. To test the effect of a potentially greater prevalence of iTFA among Nigerian foods (eg, due to iTFA-containing foods not being included in the large nutrition composition database from which the estimate of iTFA-containing foods was based on), the number of products potentially containing iTFA was assumed to be twice as many as identified in the database 21. Experience of iTFA regulations in Denmark has suggested negligible reformulation costs26 and reformulation can be considered to be a part of the natural life cycle of a product 27.…”

Integration of hepatic lipidomics and transcriptomics reveals the effect of butter-derived ruminant trans fatty acids on lipid metabolism in C57BL/6J mice

“…27 To address this problem, the WHO released an action plan in 2018, aiming to eliminate industrially produced trans fats in food by 2023. 28 However, trans fatty acids cannot be completely eliminated from the diet. Among western countries, R-TFA intake in Denmark is up to 3.4 g per d (about 1.3% of total energy intake), which is associated with a high consumption of butter and cheese.…”