According to a recent Mexican government survey, 60% of men and 64% of women are either overweight or obese, and the percentage of female obesity has risen 160% in 11 years. In 2002 a municipal government study in Mexico City found that 30% of elementary school children and 45% of adolescents were overweight or obese.
Dr Hannia Campos, Associate Professor of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, reveals that there is no one cause of this obesity upsurge, but that a succession of lifestyle changes over the past decade has catalysed the epidemic that now grips Mexico. Rapid changes in patterns of urbanisation, diet, and physical activity are driving a ‘nutrition transition’ in developing countries. As people move to cities home-cooking often becomes replaced by fast food, and exercise virtually disappears. In Mexico, the traditional diet of corn and beans has been superseded by pasta soup and white bread. Household expenditure on fruit and vegetables fell by over a quarter between 1986 and 1998. High-fat food – fried beef, refried beans and pork tacos, once saved for special occasions, are now every day foods.
Although some blame US imports, the recent expansion of American fast-food chains does not account for this extraordinarily rapid escalation. There is an indisputable wealth of national junk food in Mexico: cookies, snacks, crisps and sweets are being sold at every corner, while Mexicans consume 101 litres of soft drinks per person per year, three times as much as Brazilians consume. Dr Adolfo Chávez, a researcher at the National Nutrition Institute, notes how in general Mexicans ‘still do not have much awareness of the importance of nutrition. They still think it’s good to be fat.’
Dr Campos explains how ‘people in positions of public health and in ministries were still focused on the problems of communicable diseases,’ while ignoring the escalating pandemic of chronic disease. Some action is now being taken. School lunches have improved and now include fresh fruit, granola and whole-wheat bread. A Mexico City pilot programme is introducing aerobic exercise in schools, and the government is preparing the ‘Plate of Good Eating’, a set of dietary guidelines recommending a balance of fruit and vegetables, cereals, beans and animal products.