We are all familiar with the need for our clinical judgement to be unbiased by vested interests. In this regard, the Unites States Food and Drug Administration now refuses to allow any doctors to be part of their review panels if they have had any financial support from a commercial company. The Swedish and more recently the Indian governments threaten doctors with the loss of their legal right to practice if they attend meetings sponsored by a company with financial interests in their field. Now, however, doctors need to be aware of other commercial interests directly responsible for the escalating epidemic of the noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in the Middle East, including diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease and most cancers as well as obesity. Thus medical as well as public health leaders in the Region need to become very active in developing both a tobacco-free society in the Middle East and a society where specific foods are no longer the primary drivers of NCDs among non-smokers.