The scourge of junk food and childhood obesity is ravaging Mexico

It's 8 a.m. in the elementary school in Cuajimalpa, a suburban town south of the capital Mexico City, and a "health brigade" is taking up position under the playground canopy, armed with scales and measuring tapes. In April, the students are lining up to be weighed and measured by the Ministry of Health staff, before their teeth and eyes are also examined. "There are indeed a lot of cavities," one of the nurses immediately recognizes, scribbling the decayed teeth in black on each child's card. The culprit is sugar, which is still too present in the diet of young Mexicans.

According to the Ministry of Health, in 2024, 41.2% of children between the ages of 5 and 13 will be overweight; a nearly identical figure (40%) for students between the ages of 13 and 19, or nearly one in three young Mexicans. The main reason for this anomaly is the consumption of soft drinks, an average of 163 liters per person per year, according to the World Health Organization: 82.6% of children under 5 consume them regularly, 93% of those aged 5 to 11, and 90.3% of those aged 12 to 19.

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