Keeping Public Health Clean: Food Policy Barriers and Opportunities in the Era of the Industrial Epidemics

Poor diet accounts for a larger burden of disability and death than tobacco, alcohol and physical inactivity combined.[1] The World Health Assembly has recognized this as a priority and has challenged member countries to reduce non-communicable disease (NCD) mortality by 25% by 2025 targeting their determinants.[2] Reaching these ambitious targets is possible, but it will require decisive action on diets and tobacco smoking if we want to make a difference.[1] Certainly diet can deliver these reductions rapidly, possibly in less than a decade, and particularly by reducing cardiovascular disease burden, still one of the most important cause of death globally. [3],[4] But the impact of these diseases can be substantially lowered. Several natural experiments have shown the dramatic changes in mortality can be observed after changes of risk factors at population level, many attributable to changes in food intake [5].