A proposed UN resolution aimed at reducing non-communicable diseases could inadvertently harm nutrition in developing countries.
Experts warn that the call to eliminate trans-fatty acids lacks clarity, potentially affecting essential animal-sourced foods like milk and meat.
This ambiguity may reinforce misconceptions about meat and dairy, risking nutrition in low- and middle-income regions.
In many parts of the world, a glass of milk or a piece of meat can mean the difference between a child growing up healthy or undernourished. That is why a proposed UN resolution, though well-intentioned, could end up doing more harm than good.
This September, global leaders will adopt the Political Declaration on Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), a roadmap to address the growing burden of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer. A draft resolution, released in May, is currently under review by member-states, with the final version expected later this year. The draft outlines a series of proposed actions related to alcohol, tobacco, processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages, among other items. Most of the commitments have received broad support. However, buried within the 10-page document is a call for “eliminating trans-fatty acids” in processed food and beverages—a provision that raises concerns among agriculture and livestock experts, scientists and animal health officials in several countries.
The objective of this goal is to reduce unhealthy diets, overweight conditions and obesity. However, it does not highlight whether it targets just industrial trans-fatty acids (or trans-fats) or even naturally-occurring trans-fats found in animal-sourced products like milk, meat and cheese. The distinction is important because foods in the latter category are often the most reliable sources of essential nutrition, especially for vulnerable populations, and are not considered harmful.
Experts Down To Earth (DTE) spoke to warn that if the language is not revised or clarified, the impacts could be far-reaching and potentially harmful, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where child stunting, malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies are wide-spread.
Alice Stanton, clinical scientist and professor of cardiovascular therapeutics at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, says this ambiguity also risks reinforcing the misconception that even low or moderate consumption of meat and dairy poses a health threat—a claim that is not supported by current scientific evidence. “Without clarification, this could become an anti-livestock declaration,” says Stanton, who also works on issues concerning evidence-based healthy diets from sustainable food systems.
Stanton is among 117 experts who have signed a joint letter to UN member-state negotiators, warning that the proposed commitment risks undermining nutrition in developing countries. In the open letter, dated July 10, 2025, the signatories urged negotiators to amend the draft declaration to clearly distinguish between industrial trans-fats and those that occur naturally in animal-source foods such as milk, meat, yoghurt and cheese. “Consumption of animal products in low-income countries in Africa and South Asia is already very low, and undernutrition is high. Any policy that reduces availability of animal source products could lower intake of critical nutrients, essential for health in these regions,” says Ty Beal, senior technical specialist and global nutrition scientist with Switzerland-based non-profit Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN).
The lack of nuance in the UN draft resolution is not new. In a statement in May 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO), a UN agency, claimed “both industrially produced and naturally occurring trans-fats are equally harmful”—a position that contradicts its earlier stance. In 2018, when WHO set the goal of eliminating trans-fats from the global food supply by 2023, it introduced the REPLACE action framework, which specifically targeted industrial trans-fats. What prompted the shift in position remains unclear.
Later in a 2024 report, who acknowledged that despite significant progress, the world failed to meet the elimination target within the original timeline.
Industrial trans-fats are produced through partial hydrogenation—a chemical process that adds hydrogen to vegetable oils, converting from liquid to solid. This process stabilises the fats, preserving taste and smell while extending the shelf life of processed foods. In India, for instance, the vanaspati industry produces hydrogenated vegetable oil (mostly from palm oil), often called vanaspati ghee. Trans-fats also form when cooking oil is reused multiple times, both in commercial kitchens and households, as per the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). High-heat cooking methods, particularly deep frying, also contribute to trans-fat formation, says Stanton.
Industrially produced trans-fats are appealing to the food industry because they are inexpensive, semi solid at room temperature, extend shelf life of processed foods and tolerate repeated heating. Such artificial trans-fats are typically found in processed foods that are baked and fried, such as biscuits, cookies, cakes, crackers, rusks, namkeen (savoury snacks), potato chips and in fat-based baking ingredients like margarine and shortenings.
Further, who attributes more than 278,000 deaths a year globally to intake of industrially-produced trans-fats and recommends limiting intake to 1 per cent of the total daily energy.
But evidence suggests that trans fats naturally found in ruminant animals such as cows, sheep and goats do not have many negative im pacts. While trans-fats in industrially produced foods could be as high as 50-60 per cent of the total fat content, those in beef and dairy products are much lower—typically at 2-5 per cent, according to FSSAI as well as a 2011 study in Journal of Food Science and Technology. Another 2015 study published in British Medical Journal found that while industrial trans-fats were associated with the increased risks of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular and coronary heart diseases, ischemic stroke and type 2 diabetes, ruminant trans-fats were not. In fact, it suggests that certain dairy fats might be protective against type 2 diabetes.
The nutritional benefits of ruminant products, not only dairy but also meat, are well established. They are rich sources of high-quality protein, iron, zinc, iodine, calcium, vitamins D, B12, A and riboflavin. Children who drink a glass of milk daily grow, on average, three per cent more than those who do not. Yet in some countries, average annual per capita milk consumption is as low as 1 kg—which is likely to lead to undernutrition, states the July 10 letter to the UN member state negotiators signed by 117 experts. The signatories to the letter include officials from GAIN, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Livestock Development; the World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples, a group of pastoralist and nomadic communities; and the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Greenwich, UK, among others.
“We have to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater in pursuit of a very important objective,” Iain Wright, vice-chairperson of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN), which advises the UN’s Committee on World Food Security, tells DTE. “We support the UN declaration to eliminate industrial trans-fatty acids from the diet. There is ample evidence of their harmful effects. However, as the draft currently stands, we are concerned it could be misinterpreted as a call to eliminate all trans-fats,” says Wright.
Experts also suggest a possibility that the broad language around eliminating trans-fats could be leveraged by the plant protein industry. “The plant protein industry could be opportunistic and capitalise on policy shifts to advance their market position. However, while plant-based alternatives may have lower nutrient density than their animal-sourced counterparts, they may offer greater protection against non-communicable diseases,” says Beal. “There are some micronutrients that plant-based alternative may not have. An example is vitamin B12, which is only found in animal-sourced food,” adds Esther Omosa, senior nutrition specialist working at International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi. Further in Africa, plant-based alternatives are expensive and thus a push towards them may prove unaffordable for a large part of the population, Omosa says.
“The whole debate on animal sourced and plant-sourced foods is complex,” says Stanton. The focus should be on maintaining healthy sustainable diets, which can vary. People can opt for plant-based foods and be healthy, if they are careful, she says.
Stanton notes that a truly healthy diet must serve a dual purpose: it should prevent all forms of malnutrition, including undernutrition, obesity and micronutrient deficiencies, while also reducing risk of non-communicable diseases.
Beal adds that nutrient adequacy and disease prevention do not need to be in conflict; nourishing foods can and should achieve both goals when consumed as part of a balanced diet. He stresses that global policy declarations must reflect this nuance to avoid unintended harm.
Crucially, countries that have effectively tackled trans fats have done so by targeting only industrially produced trans-fats. Denmark led the way in 2003 by capping industrial trans-fatty acids at 2 g per 100 g of fat or oil in all food products. In 2007, New York City followed suit with a ban on industrial trans-fats in restaurants—proving that they can be successfully replaced with healthier alternatives without sacrificing taste, cost or availability.
This article was originally published in the August 1-15, 2025 print edition of Down To Earth