Almost three decades after NAFTA was signed, Mexico has overtaken the United States as the world leader in childhood obesity. As diets rich in native corn and other traditional foods have been supplanted by ultra-processed foods and beverages, most of them coming from the US, Mexico is now in the grip of an alarming health…
Written by
Nick Corbishley
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Originally Published in
Almost three decades after NAFTA was signed, Mexico has overtaken the United States as the world leader in childhood obesity. As diets rich in native corn and other traditional foods have been supplanted by ultra-processed foods and beverages, most of them coming from the US, Mexico is now in the grip of an alarming health crisis. Adult obesity rates more than tripled in Mexico between 1980 and 2012, from 10% to 35%. Over 12% of the adult population has diabetes and a further 22% prediabetes. Almost half (47%) of adults have hypertension — theexact same proportionas the US. Mexico alreadyenactedone of the strictest food labelling laws on the planet in 2020, much to the horror of global food and beverages companies. To them Mexico is a vital market, consuming more processed food than any other country in Latin America. The AMLO government has alsopassed new legislationto ban trans fats from all processed foods, which will take effect in September. And it is trying to ban the consumption of GMO crops. At the beginning of this month, Washington convened a trade dispute panel, arguing that the new decree still violates the U.S.-Mexico Canada free trade agreement and is based on bad science.
