Ángeles Cruz Martínez
La Jornada newspaper
Thursday, January 30, 2025, p. 13
The high consumption of sugary drinks (soft drinks, juices) in Mexico is direct Nature Medicine.
In fact, the country records one of the largest morbidity charges for these causes among the 184 countries where the work directed by the Mexican Laura Lara-Castor, a researcher at the University of Washington.
The investigation identified that one in 10 new cases of type 2 diabetes and one in every 30 of cardiovascular disease are a consequence of the consumption of soft drinks, fruit or energy drinks, among others.
He also found that the greatest incidence of conditions due to this risk factor is presented in Latin America and the Caribbean, followed by sub -Saharan Africa.
Yesterday, Jorge Vargas, doctor of population nutrition and collaborator in the organization The Power of the Consumer, commented on the situation in the country. He referred to the data of the National Health and Nutrition Survey (Ensenut), according to which 30 percent of the Mexicans’ diet consists of ultraprocessed foods and sugary drinks.
The latter, he said, are consumed by more than 80 percent of the population, with a national average of 163 liters per person per year, although there are entities, for example Yucatan, where the intake is 240 liters, or in Chiapas, 821 Liters, which is equivalent to more than two liters of this type of drinks daily.
Intake exceeds recommendations
In all cases, the maximum consumption level recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) is exceeded, which indicates that 10 percent of the diet would have to be integrated with added sugars and ideally the limit should be 5 percent.
This means that of 1,800 calories consumed by an adult, from 22.5 to 45 grams should be sugars. Based on the data presented, in Yucatan the indicator is 50 grams per day and in Chiapas rises to 165 grams.
The above, he added, increases the risk for the development of obesity, diabetes, arterial hypertension, cardiovascular conditions and kidney disease, among other chronic conditions.
He commented that for more than two decades the prevalence and mortality from diabetes have increased. In 2000 there were 5.3 million people with the condition and by 2022 the figure almost tripled at 14.6 million.
Meanwhile, deaths went from 40 thousand 600 to more than 115 thousand between 2000 and 2022.
By cardiovascular diseases rose from 122 thousand deaths, in 2015, 236 thousand in 2022. Both evils are among the 10 main causes of death in the country.
Meanwhile, the researcher Ana Larrañaga, of The Power of the Consumer, mentioned that last year that organization asked the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks to issue a health alert for this situation. Thus, measures such as the increase in taxes on sugary drinks would have to be promoted, strengthening the regulation of internet advertising and social networks, as well as ensuring that schools are free of ultra -processed products and drinks with added sugars.
