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Originally Posted by Franco Ordonez, McClatchy Newspapers
MEXICO CITY — Fueled by the rising popularity of soft drinks and fast-food restaurants, Mexico has become the second fattest nation in the world. Mexican health officials say it could surpass the U.S. as the most obese country within 10 years if trends continue.
In 1989, fewer than 10 percent of Mexican adults were overweight. No one in the country even talked about obesity back then, said Barry Popkin , a University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill professor who studies global weight gain.
Experts were too concerned with poverty and hunger.
Now more than 71 percent of Mexican women and 66 percent of Mexican men are overweight, according to the latest national surveys.
The national study also found that a quarter of Mexican children ages 5 to 11 are too heavy, a 40 percent increase since 2000.
According to the government's National Institute of Public Health , the consumption of soft drinks increased 60 percent in Mexico over the last 14 years.
The health consequences of obesity include increased rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. The Mexican Diabetes Federation estimates that 6.5 million to 10 million Mexicans have diabetes.
More than 70,000 Mexicans die each year from diabetes-related conditions, Cordova said. He said that the diabetes burden was draining Mexico's already strained health services and that if trends continued, the country's health-care system would be bankrupt within a decade.
With diabetes now Mexico's leading cause of death, activists and leaders hope to renew efforts to crack down on junk food and other fatty-food consumption and encourage citizens to exercise more. But it will be a tough battle, as industry groups are expected to put up a fight.
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That's just plain insanity. I used to think it was obscene that the USA had such a problem with obesity when there were so many Americans starving living in poverty or on the streets. The fact that Mexico is now the 2nd fattest country in the world, and that it is so rapidly gaining on the USA's obesity figures makes my head hurt.
Mar 24, 08
