Thecommercial determinants of health are theprivate sector activities that influence individual and group differences inhealth status.[2] Commercial determinants of health can affect people's health positively (such as sport or medical industries) or negatively (such as arms and tobacco industries).[2][3] They are part of the broadersocial determinants of health.
Corporate activities influences the legal, physical, and price environments in which people live. For example:[2][4]
Political influence (including indirect or grassroots lobbying[5] and directlobbying)[6] (impeding policy through lobbying such as lobbying againstsugary drink taxes,[7] or phasing out tobacco sales to youth[8]);
Perceptions shaping throughmarketing (such as when the sugar industry shifted the blame for ill health from dietary sugar to dietary fat and cholesterol[9]), includingproduct design (such asDuPont designing and selling carcinogenic products liketeflon cooking pans and other products[10]),packaging andadvertising (enhancing the acceptability, such as in the case ofNestle and others selling unhealthy baby formula as better than mother's milk around the world[11]);
Supply chains (amplifying company influence around the globe);
According toThe Lancet, 'four industries (tobacco, unhealthy food, fossil fuel, and alcohol) are responsible for at least a third of global deaths per year'.[19] In 2024, theWorld Health Organization published a report including these figures.[27][28]
^ab"Ambient (outdoor) air pollution".who.int.World Health Organization. 19 December 2022. Retrieved11 November 2023.Air pollution is one of the greatest environmental risk to health. [...] The combined effects of ambient air pollution and household air pollution are associated with 6.7 million premature deaths annually.
^Fact sheet"Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs)".who.int.World Health Organization. 11 June 2021. Retrieved11 November 2023.Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death globally. An estimated 17.9 million people died from CVDs in 2019, representing 32% of all global deaths.
^Fact sheet"Cancer".who.int.World Health Organization. 3 February 2022. Retrieved11 November 2023.Around one-third of deaths from cancer are due to tobacco use, high body mass index, alcohol consumption, low fruit and vegetable intake, and lack of physical activity.
^Fact sheet"Tobacco".who.int.World Health Organization. 31 July 2023. Retrieved11 November 2023.Tobacco kills more than 8 million people each year, including an estimated 1.3 million non-smokers who are exposed to second-hand smoke.
^Fact sheet"Alcohol".who.int.World Health Organization. 9 May 2022. Retrieved11 November 2023.The harmful use of alcohol is a causal factor in more than 200 disease and injury conditions. Worldwide, 3 million deaths every year result from harmful use of alcohol.
^Fact sheet"Physical activity".who.int.World Health Organization. 5 October 2022. Retrieved11 November 2023.People who are insufficiently active have a 20% to 30% increased risk of death compared to people who are sufficiently active.
Kickbusch, I. (2012). "Addressing the interface of the political and commercial determinants of health".Health Promotion International.27 (4):427–428.doi:10.1093/heapro/das057.PMID23144264.
