The major factors contributing to LD include bad habits, physical in-activities, wrong body posture, and disturbed biological clock. The lifestyle of different population might partly determine their rate of cancer, and studies have shown that environmental or lifestyle factors rather than genetic factor are some of the key determinants of the international variation in cancer rate (Mukash & Majumdar 2009).
A report jointly prepared by the World Health Organization and the World Economic Forum says 60% of all deaths worldwide in 2005 (35 million) resulted from non-communicable diseases (LD) and accounted for 44% premature deaths. This non-communicable diseases usually emerge in the middle age after long exposure to an unhealthily lifestyle which could include tobacco use, a lack of physical activity and consumption of diets highly saturated in fats, sugars, and salts e.g. fast foods. LD are rampant in developing countries like India and now common among the younger or productive age group and thus leads to reduction in productivity and development of a country because they are chronic conditions and they are usually a financial burden for lifetime. Therefore, there is an increasing concern these days about LD since they can be easily prevented but not cured (WHO/WEF 2008).
The lifestyle factors associated with these diseases can be of two types: Modifiable factors (those that can be changed) like food habits, physical activity level, addiction (smoking, drinking), stress, etc, and Non-modifiable factors (those that cannot be changed) like age and heredity. It can also be observed that more and more young people are seen smoking and drinking despite knowing the fact that these habits are harmful to their health, our nutritious and balanced meals are giving way to fast food and junk food, fresh fruits and vegetables are being rejected in favour of processed and packed food, soft drinks are now replacing milk and we prefer to use a bus or car instead of walking even for short distances forgetting that all these lifestyle factors could inevitably lead to LD (Home Science in Daily Life).
