Obesity up in Mexico, especially among kids

By DUDLEY ALTHAUS
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Jan. 28, 2010, 10:31PM

Keith Dannemiller Chronicle

Across Mexico, sidewalk vendors with unhealthy offerings wait for students after classes let out.?

MEXICO CITY — Though still afflicted by large pockets of the malnourished poor, Mexico is fat and quickly getting fatter, its children gaining weight faster than anyone else in the country.

About 70 percent of Mexican adults are now overweight, according to government estimates, more than triple the number of three decades ago. Also, about a third of the country's schoolchildren and teenagers are overweight, making Mexicans the second-heaviest people on the planet, gaining quickly on their American neighbors.

With more people living in urban areas, and some with more money, Mexicans are eating more and exercising less. Forgoing the beans, tortillas, fruit and vegetables their grandparents ate, people flock to U.S.-style fast food.

Also, calorie-laden Mexican dishes once reserved for special occasions have become routine fare. Anything fried, packaged pastries, soft drinks and candy are widely available.

By some estimates, more than 200,000 people die each year in Mexico because of heart disease, diabetes and other diet-caused illnesses. Experts and government officials warn the problem shortly will prove overwhelming.

“It's an epidemic,” said physician Abelardo Avila, a leading researcher at Mexico's National Institute of Medical Science and Nutrition. “Millions of Mexicans are being put in danger, and the health system is not going to be able to keep up with it. There is nothing like this in the history of public health in Mexico.”

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