At least a third of deaths worldwide are caused by just four products, a leading British scientist has claimed.
These are tobacco, alcohol, fossil fuels, and food, according to Professor Anna Gilmour, head of the Centre for 21st Century Public Health at the University of Bath.
‘The simplest way to see this is to look at the magnitude of the damage caused by four products: tobacco, fossil fuels, alcohol, and food,’ the expert told El Pais.
‘We estimate that these four products alone cause between one-third and two-thirds of all global deaths.’
In 2021, 19 million of the 56 million deaths worldwide were due to those four industries alone.
Tobacco tops the list as the deadliest product.
This alone caused 16 per cent of all deaths in 2021 – killing over nine million people.
However, Professor Gilmour warns that the dangers of these products remain poorly understood.
At least a third of deaths around the world are due to just four products, according to a leading scientist. Can you guess what they might be? (stock image)
Tobacco is the deadliest of all products, causing 16 per cent of all deaths worldwide and killing over nine million people each year (stock image)
1. Tobacco
According to the Global Burden of Disease Study, smoking, chewing tobacco, and second hand smoke collectively kill more people than any other product.
‘Two out of three smokers will eventually die from smoking. It’s so risky,’ Professor Gilmour said.
‘Would they jump from the fourth floor of a building? No, because it’s too risky.
‘But smoking is generally taken up in youth, when the risks aren’t fully understood.’
Smoking tobacco leads to increased rates of cancer, heart attacks, high blood pressure, strokes, blood clots, and respiratory illnesses.
Tobacco is responsible for 20 per cent of the deaths caused by non-communicable diseases, illnesses that don’t spread from person to person, each year.
In Europe, a study co-authored by Professor Gilmour found that tobacco is responsible for 1.15 million deaths each year – or 10 per cent of the total.
Alcohol is also linked to an exceptionally high number of deaths around the world (stock image)
Professor Gilmour, an expert on the harms of smoking, says: ‘Smoking is highly addictive. And we know that tobacco companies manipulate cigarettes to make them more addictive.’
Professor Gilmour adds that she would recommend smokers ‘do everything they can to quit’.
2. Alcohol
Alcohol is also linked to an exceptionally high number of deaths around the world.
Worldwide, 2.44 million people die due to alcohol use every year.
That represents 4.3 per cent of all deaths and 4.4 per cent of all deaths caused by non-communicable diseases.
Alcohol is also involved in a disproportionately high number of deaths caused by accidents and injuries.
According to the Global Burden of Disease estimates, seven per cent of all deaths caused by injury involved alcohol.
Ultra-processed foods containing high amounts of salt, sugar, and processed meat are jointly responsible for 3.07 million deaths worldwide each year
3. Food
Perhaps surprisingly, food is an even more common cause of premature death than alcohol consumption.
Around the world, 5.4 per cent of all deaths were caused by ‘dietary risk’ in 2021 – equivalent to over three million people.
This includes risks caused by diets high in processed meat, sodium, ‘sugar-sweetened beverages’, and trans fatty acids.
Diets high in salt lead to the most deaths, followed by diets high in processed meat.
In Europe, where more granular data is available, 2.27 per cent of all deaths were caused by eating too much salt while 1.06 per cent were linked to processed meat.
Unhealthy diets are one of the biggest risk factors for developing chronic disease.
Poor diet or obesity increases the risk of cardiovascular conditions, high blood pressure, strokes, and certain cancers.
Air pollution created by burning fossil fuels is responsible for approximately 8.34 million deaths every year. Pictured: New Delhi enveloped by morning smog
Yet, despite the well-documented risks of poor diet, Professor Gilmour says food products are ‘manipulated to make them increasingly desirable, almost addictive.’
4. Fossils fuel
Setting aside the well-documented risks of climate change, fossil fuels are already leading to a measurable increase in deaths.
This is because particulate pollution from burning fossil fuels creates serious health risks.
Prolonged exposure to air pollution leads to increased rates of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases as well as lung cancer.
The Global Burden of Disease estimates that air pollution from fossil fuels led to 4.5 million deaths in 2021 but other estimates are much higher.
A recent study found that air pollution has led to 8.34 million deaths each year worldwide, largely by causing an increased risk of pulmonary heart disease.
This means that fossil fuels contribute to between five and eight per cent of all worldwide deaths.
In Europe, where rates of air pollution are lower, the WHO estimates that burning fossil fuels causes 578,900 deaths every year.
These figures do not include deaths caused by climate change-driven disasters such as floods and heatwaves, meaning that the true number of fossil fuel-related deaths is likely higher.
