Friday, April 4, 2025

Mexico’s obesity numbers are up nearly 4 million in 4 years to 24.3 million

Close to 4 million adult Mexicans joined the ranks of the obese between 2012 and 2016, a result of food insecurity and undernourishment according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

In 2012, 20.5 million adults were considered obese, a figure that has since risen to 24.3 million.

Of the 150 countries assessed by the FAO, Mexico ranked sixth in terms of the percentage of the population that is considered obese.

However, gains have been made — though not in weight — among children. In 2012, 9% of children under five were obese. By 2016 the figure had dropped to 5.2%.

The figures were published in the agency’s study The State of Food Security & Nutrition around the World, which found that worldwide adult obesity rates are worsening, having risen from 11.7% in 2012 to 13.2% in 2016. This means that in 2017 more than one in eight adults, or more than 672 million people, are obese.

The study explained that food insecurity, defined as unreliable access to food, can contribute to overweight, obesity and undernourishment, and that high rates of three conditions coexist in many countries around the world.

Expensive nutritious, fresh foods, the stress of living with food insecurity and physiological adaptations to food restrictions are all contributing factors that put families at risk of suffering overweight and obesity, said the document.

“When household resources for food become scarce, people choose less expensive foods that are often high in calories and low in nutrients,” it continued.

“Food insecurity is associated with low birthweight in infants . . . a risk factor for child stunting, which in turn is associated with overweight and obesity later in life,” said the document.

The FAO study concluded by stating that access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food must be framed as a human right, with priority given to the most vulnerable, paying special attention to children under five, school-age children, adolescent girls and women.

Source: Vanguardia (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum stands at the presidential podium looking out at an audience off-camera with her fist raised and her mouth open as if cheering. Behind her is a wall with the words in Spanish: Plan Mexico, Strenghtening the Economy and Well-Being, Mexico City April 3, 2025.

Sheinbaum unveils an even more ambitious version of her transformative Plan México

8
Sheinbaum said the projects she announced as part of Plan México will bring about more well-paid employment, less poverty and inequality, greater investment and production and more innovation.
A clear-cut strip of land cuts through the jungle along the Maya Train route in Yucatán

Government promises restoration plan for Maya Train environmental damage

1
Government officials said the track's builders will be responsible for funding a restoration effort that includes reforestation and improving natural migration corridors.
Cans of Cororna Extra beer lying on a bed of large ice cubes

Trump announces new US tariffs on Mexican… beer

15
Mexico didn't end up on Donald Trump's "liberation day" list of enemy countries, although the U.S. did impose tariffs on a surprising Mexican item: beer in cans.