ULTRA-processed foods (UPFs), alcohol, tobacco and fossil fuels are killing 2.7million people every year across Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned. Experts said "powerful industries" are driving ill health and premature death because they interfere in government policies and efforts to cut cases of cancer , heart disease and diabetes .
In a new report, the WHO called for "strict regulation" and for officials to push health policies which are regularly "challenged, delayed, weakened or stopped" by industry. WHO said "more than 7,400 people are dying every day" in its European region due to harmful products and practices. It said: "These commercial products contribute to 24 per cent of all deaths, including significant mortality from cardiovascular diseases (51.
4 per cent) and cancer (46.4 per cent)." Overall, tobacco , alcohol , UPF and fuel industries are wholly or partly responsible for 2.
7million deaths per year in Europe , according to the document. Meanwhile, the global picture shows that tobacco, UPFs , fossil fuels and alcohol cause 19million deaths per year, or 34 per cent of all deaths. Breaking down the data, WHO said 1.
15million deaths annually in Europe are caused by smoking , 426,857 by alcohol, 117,290 by diets high in processed meats and 252,187 by diets high in salt . These figures do not even include deaths caused by obesity , high blood pressure , high blood sugar or high cholesterol levels - all of which are linked to unhealthy diets, it .
