Manuel Uribe entered the Guinness book of records when weighed in at 1,235 pounds in 2006. Shown here in his bed at home in Monterrey, Mexico, on Jan. 19, 2006, Uribe has followed a special diet to lose 400 pounds. He hopes others can follow his lead. (Luis Reyes/Reuters)
Mexico's growing obesity problem
With fattier diets and changing lifestyles, Mexico is packing on the pounds.
MEXICO CITY — Dressed in the hand-woven red cloths of her native village and chatting away in her ancient Nahuatl tongue, Pilar Blanco and her family sit down to dinner in what looks like an age-old meal time ceremony.
But when Hernandez serves up the food, there is one major difference from tradition: instead of tortillas and beans, the family eats instant noodle soups, potato chips and fizzy soda.
“I’m out working all day cleaning people’s houses and I have no time to cook. So the instant soups are a big help,” Hernandez explains, sitting with her husband and three children in a cinder block home on the outskirts of this sprawling capital.
Such radical changes in diet have swept through Mexico in the last decade leading to an explosion of obesity. As families guzzle evermore processed food, hamburgers and french fries, they have piled on the pounds to make Mexico one of fattest nations on the planet.
Studies by the Health Department show that a startling 68 percent of Mexican adults are overweight and 29 percent are obese — just behind the United States, where 74 percent are overweight and 39 percent obese.
Only the tiny Pacific island nations of Samoa and Tonga have heavier populations.
There is particular concern about the rising weight of Mexican children. The Mexico City government announced this month that an alarming 35 percent of school pupils are over the recommended bodyweight.
To try to fight back, the government has kick-started an anti-obesity campaign of sporting events and healthy-eating propaganda aimed at the young.
“We need you children to understand the importance of taking care of your health and the problem of obesity that is worrying to our country,” Mexico City Health Minister Armando Ahued told 1,000 children panting away in a running race. “You are the future of the capital, and we need you to avoid getting diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.”
The campaign is also encouraging young people to lose pounds by joining 11,000 dancers in the largest-ever routine of Michael Jackson’s song "Thriller," scheduled for Aug. 29 in Mexico City’s central plaza.
The changing dietary habits have come as Mexico has switched from a largely protectionist to an extremely globalized economy.
Since it enacted the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, imports of processed food and drinks have soared.
The nation now consumes more Coca Cola products per capita than anywhere else in the world: a total of 635 eight-ounce bottles per person each year. The amount represents a threefold increase compared to 1988.
Having spent quite a bit of time in Mexico (I'm from Texas), it is good to see this worrying trend being given attention. Mexico has a near-perfect storm of factors which contribute to the soaring obesity rates. I think urban inhabitants in general are at risk to weight gains but Mexico, like the author states, has it worse off than probably anywhere. Coke has an absolute choke hold on the cities, especially the D.F. and Monterrey. It is hard to go anywhere without seeing massive coke billboards. Those cities really are beautiful but the smog, poorly designed traffic arteries, and heat make people just not want to spend more time outside than is absolutely necessary. The trouble with trying to fix this problem is that its roots go into so many levels of society and infrstructure.
Mr. Grillo thanks for a very timely & interesting content. A country where where hunger once prevailed, now diabetes is leading cause of death, primarily due to the obesity epidemic. It is an irony that many from the USA go for Medical Tourism Mexico . Majority for Obesity surgeries.
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