Doctors, specialists and functionaries of the Secretariat of Health and investigators from private universities came together to announce that the 71.28 percent of adults in Mexico City are overweight or obese. This is an alarming rate considering that it’s one of the highest that have been recorded in our country, and can be considered a problem of national security.
During the roundtable “Obesity in Mexico: Realities of an Obese Society”, organized by the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, the panelists showed that obesity is linked to 14 types of high risk sicknesses like type 2 diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and even death. They urged that the obesity epidemic be addressed integrally.
The general director of Novo Nordisk in Mexico, Ricardo Reynoso, said that according to estimates, the cost of medical attention fluctuates between 82 and 90 millions of pesos annually, a figure which could rise above 202 millons in 2017 due to the high prevalence and pandemic characteristics of this illness.
The medical director of Nova Nordisk Mexico ventured that Mexico is considered one of the “fattest” nations in the world, due to the fact that the majority of Mexicans are overweight or obese, an enfermity that affects quality of life by raising arterial pressure and cholesterol, in addition to trigylcerides.
He reminded the audience that the country has 60 million overweight and obese people. That number includes 12 million children and adolescents, which is to say that 35 percent of the population between the ages of 5 and 19 are overweight or obese.
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