The society should come forward to persuade the Government to make front-of-pack-labelling (FOPL) warnings mandatory for the food industry to curtail rampant availability of high fat, salt and sugar foods which are taking a toll on the heart and overall health of the people, health experts said on Wednesday on the occasion of World Health Day.
FOPL is a nutrition labelling system where information about the nutrients and their quality is presented upfront on a food package in a simple manner and is a practice followed in most developed countries.
The doctors also advised the youth to keep themselves off tobacco which is a cause of cancer too. “Because tobacco leads to a painful slow death,” Cardiac Surgeon Dr Devi Shetty said adding, “Indians are three times more vulnerable to heart attacks than Europeans and Americans. We develop heart attacks at a much younger age. In India, it is the breadwinners of the family who are coming for a bypass graft. It is very sad to see an old father bringing his son for a bypass graft. Indians are developing heart attacks like an epidemic,” he said.
Dr Rohit Goel, Consultant, Interventional Cardiology, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram, was of the opinion that besides tobacco, unchecked consumption of unhealthy food and sedentary lifestyle besides absence of FOPL on unhealthy food products too are harmful for the heart, with youth as young as 40 years dying due to heart disease.
“Hence, FOPL warnings are the need of the hour. They should be made mandatory on an urgent basis for the food industry so that consumers have informed and healthy choices while purchasing packaged food,” said Dr Goel. It should be on the line of mandatory pictorial warnings on tobacco products which have brought significant changes in people’s perception towards tobacco consumption, he added.
“Similarly, FOPL too can help cut down non-communicable diseases (NCD) burden which is increasing at an alarming rate in India,” Dr Goel said at the Healthy Talks programme on the topic “Save your Heart from unhealthy packaged foods,” initiated by IGPP, a health platform.
Dr Goel cited examples of countries like Chile, Brazil, France and Israel which after adopting FOPL have succeeded in bringing down NCDs levels.
The genetic predisposition, high incidence of diabetes, higher stress level, sedentary lifestyle and obesity are the main reasons among others for such an alarming rise. The recent shift of modifiable risk factors towards increasing consumption of red meats, saturated fats and trans fats, junk food is also an important reason for this, said Dr Tarun Kumar, Professor of Cardiology, at RML Hospital.
The doctors said people must adopt a heart-healthy lifestyle where they consume fresh fruits and vegetables, engage in physical activity most days of the week, work towards weight reduction and quit harmful habits while the Government, on its part, should expedite the process of making FOPL compulsory for the food industry.
