MUZAFFARABAD: Excessive consumption of unhealthy food is causing many non-communicable diseases such as cardiac and renal ailments, diabetes and many forms of cancer and should be as much avoided as possible because it is one of the leading contributors to the deaths across the world.

This was the crux of speeches at a sensitisation session with government officials, civil society and media on ‘harmful effects of ultra-processed food’ held here on Saturday under the aegis of Pakistan National Heart Association (Panah).

AJK’s secretary for sports, youth affairs and culture Midhat Shahzad was the chief guest at the session while other speakers included Panah’s additional executive vice president retired Col Shakeel Ahmed Mirza, secretary general Sanaullah Ghumman, AJK secretary education Zahid Khan Abbasi, deputy superintendent of Punjab police Mirza Tahir Sikandar and World Health Organisation (WHO)’s Dr Bushra Shams.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Shehzad said the provision of health awareness to the youth was imperative and the AJK government would soon formulate a food and nutrition policy for educational institutions to bring a fast track change in collaboration with Panah.

Secretary regrets that even in AJK’s remote areas traditional drinks replaced by sweet drinks and ultra-processed food items

She regretted thatevenin the AJK’s remote rural areas, where even some of the basic needs of life were still not be available, traditional drinks like milk, lassi and plain water had been replaced by sweet drinks and ultra-processed foods to the detriment of residents’ health.

“We have to come back to our traditional lifestyle to save the future of our new generation… It’s heartening that Panah has started its operations in our state and we will soon be reaping its dividends,” she said.

She acknowledged that the media, police and civil society could play a pivotal role in awareness campaigns for health and hygiene in the society.

Earlier, Mr Mirza informed the audience that all four provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan had already formulated school food policy for children and expressed the hope that the AJK government would also follow the suit without further ado and ban ultra-processed foods at least on the premises of educational institutions.

He said the rapid increase in non-communicable diseases in Pakistan was alarming.

“As many as 1,114 people die in Pakistan daily due to cardiac problems alone while the daily death toll due to diabetes is 1,100. Unfortunately, Pakistan has come on top of the countries where the prevalence of diabetes is increasing speedily, thanks to the highest consumption of ultra-processed foods.”

He pointed out that consumption of sugary drinks had become a part of the daily life of Pakistanis despite the fact that a small glass of sugary drinks contained seven to nine teaspoons of sugar, which was one of the major causes of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and many other ailments.

He pointed out that effective policy measures were being taken across the globe to discourage and reduce consumption of fried foods, salt and sugary drinks, due to their extremely negative health effects.

These measures included increasing taxes on them, front of pack labelling and warning signs, school food policy and ban on their marketing, and should be replicated in all parts of Pakistan with a missionary zeal, he said.

Dr Shams noted that Pakistan was among the countries where the consumption of sugar, salt and fat was much higher than the limit set by the WHO.

Mr Ghumman said Panah had been trying to save its countrymen from heart and related diseases for the last 40 years.

“Sometimes we are telling our countrymen how to live a healthy lifestyle through walks, seminars and media sessions and sometimes we are trying together with the policymakers to get formulated policies to prevent use of unhealthy food,” he said.

“However, much more remains to be done because as we succeed in containing the consumption of cigarettes in one way the cigarette industry comes up with other machinations to fail our efforts.”

He offered to the AJK government all-out support and cooperation in formulation of school food policy to secure the future of the young generation.

The AJK government should also ban Velo (nicotine pouches) and heated tobacco products which had been specially made attractive for children, he said.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2023