World Obesity Day: the population in Mexico will grow in 2030

MEXICO CITY.— Almost four out of every 10 Mexicans will suffer from obesity in 2030according to one of the specialists of the Mexican Council of Internal Medicine and the Mexican Society of Nutrition and Endocrinology, in the World Obesity Day.

“Projections indicate that by 2030 approximately 36.8% of the Mexican population will suffer from obesity, with an annual increase of 1.6%,” the agency told EFE. Dr. Fátima Margarita Rodríguez Dávilasurgeon and obesity specialist.

According to World Obesity FederationMexico has experienced “alarming growth” in recent decades.

In it World Obesity Day, commemorated yesterday, it was remembered that the country is in fifth place in the world, with 21 million women (41% of the total) and 15 million men (31%) with this condition.

Overweight and obesity in young people

Ricardo Lunapresident of the Central American and Caribbean Federation of Obesity and Metabolism, Mexico and Colombia, said that overweight and obesity affect 33.6% of children and adolescents 5 to 19 years in Latin America.

“This is mainly due to low levels of breastfeeding and diets deficient in fruits and vegetables and rich in ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks,” he added.

He stated that in In 2021, obesity was responsible for 2.8 million deaths due to non-communicable diseases in the region.

“Mexico ranks fifth in the world in terms of this disease, which affects more than 50 million people, according to data from the National Health and Nutrition Survey (Ensanut) 2022,” he explained.

Multifactorial causes

Luna pointed out that among the factors that contribute to obesity are mental healththe unhealthy social environment, the lack of access to quality medical care and a high consumption of ultra-processed foods.

“Therefore, the problem is more complex than an alteration in caloric income and expenditure, its roots are deeper and encompass multiple dimensions of health and well-being,” he argued.

The Mexican organization The Power of the Consumer stated that the obesity epidemic is mainly due to the increased consumption of ultra-processed productswhich has derived—largely—from the lack of regulation of the food environment.

“One of the causes of the lack of implementation of food policies aimed at attacking obesity has been the great opposition of the food industry, who has done everything possible to prevent the Mexican State from advancing the relevant regulations,” the organization noted. in a document.

Luna emphasized that, in addition to this, “the social stigma of obesity reinforces ideas that this disease is the responsibility of the individual, damaging mental and physical well-being.”

Furthermore, he referred to barriers such as the lack of resources to achieve a more complete treatment, the scarcity of healthier foods and the insufficient knowledge regarding obesity as a disease.

Rodríguez Dávila indicated that “emotions have also emerged as a crucial factor in the development of excess weight, since many people turn to food as a way to cope with stress, sadness or anxiety, experiencing what It is known as emotional hunger.”

Luna pointed out that the medical nutritional therapy, he Pharmacotherapy ylto bariatric surgery They are obesity care options, although “it is necessary to go to a health professional to review the best option.”