Emir Olivares and Néstor Jiménez
La Jornada newspaper
Wednesday, August 20, 2025, p. 11
The consumption of soft drinks and other sugary drinks is related to the two diseases of greater mortality in the country: diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular conditions, alerted the head of the Ministry of Health (SSA), David Kershenobich.
“It is attributed in Mexico to the excess consumption of sugary drinks one in three new cases of diabetes mellitus, and one in seven new cases of cardiovascular diseases.”
In yesterday’s presidential morning, the official said that Mexico and Colombia are the nations of the world with the greatest intake of these products. He pointed out that on average the Mexican takes 166 liters of those harmful healthy drinks.
“If we do not perform preventive measures there would be no way to avoid the development and burden of this disease,” he said.
Last year, he said, 192,593 deaths from cardiovascular diseases and 112 thousand 641 were recorded in the country.
“We should not look only at deaths, but how do these people live before they die? They can live up to 10 years with disabilities for the complications they show and lose up to 10 years of life for the consumption of this type of drinks.” He said they can also cause cirrhosis.
Kershenobich explained that a 600 milliliter bottle of soda contains 15 teaspoons of sugar.
He warned that the problem is reflected from childhood, because in Mexico, seven out of 10 children or adolescents often consume a soda, even with breakfast, which causes four out of 10 to have overweight and obesity, and exceed 10 percent of daily consumption of sugars, which is recommended by the World Health Organization.
A common treatment for those who have abused the intake of soft drinks and other sugary drinks, he said, is hemodialysis, since it has increased in Mexico the number of patients who need this process, which consists of connecting them to a machine between four and six hours, several times a week, to wash their blood, because the kidneys have stopped working.
In 1993, the hemodialysis number in Mexico was less than 20 thousand a year, and in 2019 it went to more than 100 thousand.
Kershenobich also alerted around the drinks that are presented as Light either zerowhich increase the risk of an infarction or cerebral hemorrhage between 23 and 31 percent.
“Another feature that drinks have Light either zero It is that they change the intestinal content of bacteria. Every time, in the last decade, we recognize that we have more bacteria in our intestinal content that live in a state of balance with us. And we have some that are protective, but with the intake of these drinks, those that produce alterations that are very important in the development of these complications are developed, ”he explained.
The head of the SSA explained that there is already a campaign aimed at children and adolescents called Live happy, lives healthywhich aims to reduce the consumption of sugary drinks and food scrap.
However, he acknowledged that the strategy must be expanded to adults, so a new preventive strategy will be launched.
Finally, he asked: “After what you have heard, would you take a daily soda? It is necessary to think about it and reflect.”
