<p class="">Experts have established a link between trans fatty acids in food products and most terminal diseases among Nigerians, especially young people.</p>
<h1>Experts have described industrially produced trans fatty acids as slow poisons in our food chain.</h1>
<p class="">Speaking at a press conference in Abuja after a one-day training for journalists in Abuja, the deputy executive director of the <strong>Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (FoEN), Akinbode Oluwafemi</strong>, noted that trans fats are a major cause of cardiovascular diseases.</p>
<p class=""><em>“In the last decade, we have watched with consternation and loathed how the food industry inundated our shores with industrially-produced trans fats to the detriment of the health of citizens of this nation,"</em> he said.</p>
<p class=""><em>“Cases of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, obesity and other illnesses hitherto strange to our land have suddenly become rampant among Nigerians and particularly threatening the old who should be resting after putting their productive years into serving the nation, and the young and vibrant generation who are supposed to be on the drivers’ seat in nation building.”</em></p>
<p class="">According to Olueafemi, in 2010, about 1,300 Nigerians died from causes attributed to high trans-fat intake.</p>
<p class="">He reiterated the fact that except legislation is put in place to checkmate the food industry’s love and use of industrially-produced trans fats, another major public health crisis may arise.</p>
<p class=""><em>“The issue of trans-fat is the story of a slow poison in our food chain. We can no longer fold our arms and watch our lives cut short by this deadly product. The government must wake up and act, the citizens also must act by rejecting foods with trans-fat.”</em></p>
<p class="">The project adviser on trans fat, Jerome Mafeni, noted that the Federal Government has already started the process by setting a two percent limit of trans-fat from total fat content in all foods.</p>
<p class=""><em>“They convert the oil from the liquid state to a solid state so that it can have the capacity to withstand very deep fry and very long shelf life. Because they are industrially produced, they help industries to basically produce foods in large quantities and very efficiently. It has been going on for a while but we feel it needs to be stopped.</em></p>
<p class=""><em>“These trans fatty acids have the potential to cause heart disease, stroke, hypertension, blockage of the arteries. It also has the potential to cause kidney disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancers. They can cause so many damages, so really, we don’t have any reason to have them in our food supply,” </em>Mafemi explained.</p>
<p class="">He disclosed that the coalition, which also includes the <strong>Global Health Advocacy Incubator, Nigeria Heart Foundation and the Network for Health Equity and Development (NHED)</strong>, is putting pressure on the <strong>National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)</strong> to approve the <strong>Fats and Oils Regulation 2019</strong>.</p>
<p class="">The coalition, however, demanded a need for the Federal Government to declare an emergency in the food sector and commence massive awareness of the dangers of industrially-produced trans fats intake.</p>
<p class="">The food activists urged the NAFDAC to reflect the recommendations of civil societies and other critical stakeholders in the draft <strong>Fats and Oils Regulation 2019 </strong>and the <strong>Pre- Packaged Foods, Water and Ice Labeling Regulations 2019 </strong>to ensure they are in sync with the <strong>World Health Organisation (WHO) </strong>– recommended standards</p>
<p class="">Also, they tasked the NAFDAC Governing Council to finalise and speedily approve the regulation for gazetting.</p>