The Maths of a
Mounting Metabolic
Crisis

NCDs: The damage done

Non-communicable diseases – including heart disease, cancer and diabetes – are responsible for nearly three-quarters of deaths worldwide each year.1

NCD deaths
All other causes
NCDs: The damage done

Around 18 million of those deaths occur before the age of 70,2 meaning a premature NCD death occurs every

2seconds
Processing the pernicious price of food

The ultra-processed food industry generates around $1.9 trillion in annual sales.3

UPF industry revenue
$1.9trn
Processing the pernicious price of food

Whilst the hidden health costs of the global food system amount to $8.1 trillion a year, driven by unhealthy diets high in ultra-processed foods, fats and sugars, leading to obesity and non-communicable diseases and causing labour productivity losses.

Hidden health cost per year
$1.9trn
$8.1trn
A diet for the future

The cumulative worldwide cost of NCDs between 2011 and 2030 is projected to reach

$0
A diet for the future

Yet, 80% of premature heart disease, stroke and diabetes cases could be prevented through dietary changes.5

80%
The evidence is not new.
What is missing is coordinated action at the scale the problem demands.
Sources
World Health Organization. Noncommunicable Diseases.
https://www.who.int/health-topics/noncommunicable-diseases#tab=tab_1
World Health Organization (WHO). On the road to 2025.
https://www.who.int/teams/noncommunicable-diseases/on-the-road-to-2025
Newsweek (2025). Major public health threat as fresh foods being displaced. 18 November.
https://www.newsweek.com/ultra-processed-foods-major-public-health-threat-11067606
World Economic Forum (2011). The global economic burden of non-communicable diseases. Geneva: World Economic Forum.
https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Harvard_HE_GlobalEconomicBurdenNonCommunicableDiseases_2011.pdf
The Lancet (2025).
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)02845-9/fulltext
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