ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is currently facing with an alarming surge in diabetes as every third of adult is living with the disease while the country ranked at the top in diabetes prevalence rate globally.
Director of Communications and Advocacy at Pakistan Youth Change Advocates (PYCA) Afshar Iqbal, sharing the figures called for immediate action to curb the rising diabetes prevalence.
He said that unhealthy diets including high consumption of sugar and industrially produced trans-fatty acids (TFA) have become a major contributor to widespread diabetes in Pakistan.
The TFAs are unusually found in banaspati ghee, cooking oils, bakery items, deserts, fried food and many other processed foods.
TRANSFORM Pakistan in a press release on World Diabetes Day highlighted the link between diabetes and TFA intake.
It said an approximate $2640 million was estimated as the cost of diabetes management in Pakistan in 2021 by the International Diabetes Federation.
It warned that if no immediate policy action is taken it is projected that by 2045, 62 million Pakistanis will be living with diabetes and suffering from its complications.
With the aim to regulate the prevalence of industrially produced TFAs in Pakistani dietary sources, PYCA with the assistance of Ministry of National Health Services, Global Advocacy Incubator for Health (GHAI), and in collaboration with other civil society actors such as the Center for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) initiated the TRANSFORM Pakistan campaign earlier this year.
Afshar said that under the TRANSFORM Pakistan campaign, we are demanding from the government to adopt best practice policy and placing a mandatory limit of 2gm of TFAs in every 100 gm of fat in all food items across the country.
Reducing TFA consumption could help reduce diabetes
Country Coordinator for GHAI, Munawar Hussain, has said that cutting TFA consumption could reduce the risks of diabetes, stroke, heart diseases and other non-communicable diseases.
He said Pakistan can cut down significant numbers of deaths and diseases by reducing the consumption of TFAs in the diet by introducing best practice policy as per WHO guidelines.
He went on to say the consumption of sugar and sodium needs to be brought down through evidence-based policy actions like imposing tax on sugary drinks and introducing front-of-pack warning labels on ultra-processed foods to curb the diabetes.
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Mukhtar Ahmed, Executive Director of CPDI, said earlier this year, the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) mandated regulation for various food items like Banaspati ghee, cooking oils, and bakery goods such as biscuits and rusks. However, notable food items like chocolates, desserts, noodles, pastas, ice creams, ultra-processed foods, and several commonly consumed street foods have yet not been covered by TFA limits, posing a substantial threat to the health of Pakistanis.
