Lifestyle diseases

From today's The Hindu:
U.N.Summit on lifestyle diseases
World leaders will agree a deal at a meeting of the United Nations on September 19, today, to try to curb the spread of preventable "lifestyle" diseases, amid concern that progress is already being hampaered by powerful lobbyists from the food, alcohol and tobacco industries.
Cancers, heart diseases, diabetes and lung conditions already cost rich countries dear in terms of the health bills and productive life spans of their citizens. But the scourge of what the World Health Organisation(WHO) calls the non-communicable diseases(NCDs) is rapidly spreading across all parts of the globe, fuelled by obesity as a result of bad diet and sedentary lifestyles, together with alcohol and smoking. These diseases were responsible for around 36m of the 57m global deaths in 2008, including about nine million before the age of 60 - and many are preventable.