Petr
12-02-2005, 10:51 PM
See also this thread:
"At least 200 million Chinese to be obese in 10 years"
http://www.originaldissent.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18715&highlight=china+obesity
:lol:
http://www.rep-am.com/story.php?id=30906
Mexico imports U.S. eating habits, may soon become fattest nation
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
By Patrick Harrington
Mexico probably will surpass the U.S. in obesity rates for the first time next year as the Latin American nation adopts the fast food and sedentary lifestyles of its neighbor to the north.
The brewing health crisis prompted Mexico's congress this month to move toward making school exercise mandatory. Mexico City has called in a Texas doctor to wean kids off pizza and fries, while Health Ministry ads warn fat can lead to diabetes and heart disease.
"Obese and overweight adults went from nowhere in 1990 to 62 percent in 2000," said Barry Popkin, an economist and nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, citing a Mexican government study. "You are talking about an astronomical increase coming at a very fast rate and it's continuing."
Weight-related illnesses pose a growing threat to Latin America's second-largest economy, said Juan Rivera, who's leading Mexico's second national obesity study at the National Institute of Public Health, due in 2006. Diabetes alone, the most common disease associated with excess weight, cost Mexico as much as $15.1 billion in 2000, mostly in reduced productivity and lost wages because of premature death, according to a World Health Organization estimate.
A report this year by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development compared obesity rates among OECD member nations. Only the U.S., where 66 percent of people are overweight or obese, ranks higher than Mexico, the group reported, using the 2000 data from Mexico and 2002 numbers from the U.S.
"The causes of death in Mexico have changed from infectious to chronic diseases such as cardiovascular illnesses and diabetes," said Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos, president of the Heath Committee of Mexico's Congress. "In most cases these diseases share the common cause of obesity."
Incomes in Mexico have grown as the economy expands. Gross domestic product rose 3.3 percent in the third quarter from the same period a year ago. Average salaries, in inflation-adjusted terms, have climbed to 188.74 pesos ($17.80) per day from 146.19 pesos per day four years ago.
Mexicans' growing weight is largely a byproduct of rising consumer spending aided by U.S. free trade, said Rivera, a nutritionist. A North American lifestyle that features cars and television accounts for much of that, he said. At the same time, the spread of fast food and soft-drink consumption in place of traditional beans and tortillas has paralleled the typical waistline expansion, he said.
The first Mexican franchise of Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's Corp. opened in 1985 and there are now 304 outlets, according to the company's Web site.
Miami-based Burger King's first restaurant opened in 1991 and has 260 sites. Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum! Brands, Inc., which operates Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC franchises, had 467 restaurants in Mexico at the end of 2004, according to a company report.
Mexico is the world's leading per-capita consumer of Coca- Cola, according to the World Health Organization.
In 1998 Mexicans drank more than 400 milliliters per day of the Coca-Cola Co. soft drink, according to a report by the organization, up from 275 milliliters in 1992.
A government study of income and spending showed Mexicans, whose traditional diet is based on corn and beans, spent 29.3 percent less on fruits and vegetables in 1998 than in 1984. In the same period, soft drink purchases increased 37.2 percent.
Researchers conducting the nation's second study on obesity, due to be published next year, said the percentage of obese and overweight Mexicans probably rose as high as 85 percent of women and 75 percent of men -- possibly the highest rates of any major economy.
"At least 200 million Chinese to be obese in 10 years"
http://www.originaldissent.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18715&highlight=china+obesity
:lol:
http://www.rep-am.com/story.php?id=30906
Mexico imports U.S. eating habits, may soon become fattest nation
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
By Patrick Harrington
Mexico probably will surpass the U.S. in obesity rates for the first time next year as the Latin American nation adopts the fast food and sedentary lifestyles of its neighbor to the north.
The brewing health crisis prompted Mexico's congress this month to move toward making school exercise mandatory. Mexico City has called in a Texas doctor to wean kids off pizza and fries, while Health Ministry ads warn fat can lead to diabetes and heart disease.
"Obese and overweight adults went from nowhere in 1990 to 62 percent in 2000," said Barry Popkin, an economist and nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, citing a Mexican government study. "You are talking about an astronomical increase coming at a very fast rate and it's continuing."
Weight-related illnesses pose a growing threat to Latin America's second-largest economy, said Juan Rivera, who's leading Mexico's second national obesity study at the National Institute of Public Health, due in 2006. Diabetes alone, the most common disease associated with excess weight, cost Mexico as much as $15.1 billion in 2000, mostly in reduced productivity and lost wages because of premature death, according to a World Health Organization estimate.
A report this year by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development compared obesity rates among OECD member nations. Only the U.S., where 66 percent of people are overweight or obese, ranks higher than Mexico, the group reported, using the 2000 data from Mexico and 2002 numbers from the U.S.
"The causes of death in Mexico have changed from infectious to chronic diseases such as cardiovascular illnesses and diabetes," said Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos, president of the Heath Committee of Mexico's Congress. "In most cases these diseases share the common cause of obesity."
Incomes in Mexico have grown as the economy expands. Gross domestic product rose 3.3 percent in the third quarter from the same period a year ago. Average salaries, in inflation-adjusted terms, have climbed to 188.74 pesos ($17.80) per day from 146.19 pesos per day four years ago.
Mexicans' growing weight is largely a byproduct of rising consumer spending aided by U.S. free trade, said Rivera, a nutritionist. A North American lifestyle that features cars and television accounts for much of that, he said. At the same time, the spread of fast food and soft-drink consumption in place of traditional beans and tortillas has paralleled the typical waistline expansion, he said.
The first Mexican franchise of Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's Corp. opened in 1985 and there are now 304 outlets, according to the company's Web site.
Miami-based Burger King's first restaurant opened in 1991 and has 260 sites. Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum! Brands, Inc., which operates Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC franchises, had 467 restaurants in Mexico at the end of 2004, according to a company report.
Mexico is the world's leading per-capita consumer of Coca- Cola, according to the World Health Organization.
In 1998 Mexicans drank more than 400 milliliters per day of the Coca-Cola Co. soft drink, according to a report by the organization, up from 275 milliliters in 1992.
A government study of income and spending showed Mexicans, whose traditional diet is based on corn and beans, spent 29.3 percent less on fruits and vegetables in 1998 than in 1984. In the same period, soft drink purchases increased 37.2 percent.
Researchers conducting the nation's second study on obesity, due to be published next year, said the percentage of obese and overweight Mexicans probably rose as high as 85 percent of women and 75 percent of men -- possibly the highest rates of any major economy.