170,000 Mexicans Die Every Year Due to Obesity Abigail Gomez - El Universal
go to original July 27, 2015

Three decades ago, Mexico had practically no problem with obesity. Now, two-thirds of its adult population is overweight or obese. One of the factors in this alarming rise is the change in eating habits. As a result, diabetes is now the number-one killer in the country. Rachel Levin reports from Mexico City. (Al Jazeera)

Obesity is directly responsible for many of the deadliest diseases in Mexico. When a patient is obese and then suffers an illness resulting from overweight, experts call this comorbidity.

An analysis made by El Universal based on data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Statistics Institute (INEGI), shows that obesity comorbidity kills over 170,000 Mexicans every year, 28% of the total number of deaths.

In Mexico, four of the five leading causes of death are due to obesity comorbidity. Heart ailments kill 113,240 Mexicans a year, 50% of which are obese.

The second cause of death is diabetes, that kills 87,245 Mexicans every year, out of which 80% were obese. In the case of malignant tumors, that kill 73,426 people every year, 41% of the victims were obese. Finally, 36% of those who die due from fatty liver disease (34,156 per year), were overweight.

...Mexico has more than 85 million people with overweight or obesity. Of them, 70% are adult and 30% are children aged between 5 and 11, according to figures of the National Public Health Institute. In contrast, there are 2.4 nutritionists for every 1,000 inhabitants.

Figures from the Ministry of Health show that obesity costs the country 67 billion pesos (US$4.27 billion), and by 2017 the cost is expected to reach 202 billion pesos (US$12.89 billion).

Read the rest at El Universal

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