Written By: Ivey Ingalls-Rubin, Staff Writer

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are held responsible for nearly 60% of all deaths worldwide. That number comes out to be approximately 36 million each year. Among the top few are deaths from obesity-driven hypertension, cancer, diabetes and heart disease from smoking.

NCD deaths worldwide are becoming a serious epidemic. They are being driven by a highly influential, powerful and almost universal trend of the globalization of unhealthy lifestyle choices.

Even in developing countries that have decreased the amount of tuberculosis, malaria and other ailments, the burden often time shifts directly to NCDs. From sugary beverages to highly-processed foods the human civilization is beginning to become witness to substantial changes in health as we shift our patterns of consumption. One troubling indicator, of many, is the doubling of our obesity rate globally since 1980.

Specific food companies that are contributing to the rise in NCDs in low to middle-income countries are being coined as “Manufacturing epidemics.” Public health experts have concluded that these corporations that profit from the sale of unhealthy commodities; such as alcohol, tobacco, sugary beverages and overly processed/packaged food are responsible for the leading causes of death, worldwide. The huge health impact of their “contributions” to society have also been termed as “industrial epidemics.”

Leading corporations in this deathly trend include many familiar brands such as Nestle, Kraft and Unilever.

Research on the subject has proven that public health decreases on a drastic level as economies grow and the demand for ultra-processed food tends to increase. This demand seems to increase as well when marketing is involved.

The U.N, during a 2011 meeting on NCDs called for public health engagement with a goal of reducing premature death caused by NCDs by 25% by 2025.

Data like this makes it nearly impossible to ignore the growing trend of unhealthiness that’s flourishing in our society. The push for insalubrious choices is in full swing and one can’t help but fall subject to it’s almost cartel like persuasion, however, in an attempt to live a long, healthy life we must fight.

If corporations won’t take responsibility for marketing unhealthy options then one must decide for themselves to stop the trend. Stop it within yourself, teach your children how to eat and promote the ways of LIVING instead of the terms in which you die.