Overview of the epidemic overweight and obesity in Mexico
Changes in nutrition and population are intimately related in several ways. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), since 1997, overweight and obesity have been recognized as public health problems, both in developed and developing countries, reaching epidemic proportions worldwide, each year around 2.8 million people die because of them. Overweight and obesity are the starting point for pathologies such as the metabolic syndrome, arterial hypertension, dyslipidemia and coronary heart disease. Mexico has been immersed in this epidemic, with the information provided by the National Nutrition and Health Surveys since 1988 it has been possible to document the permanent tendency to increase Overweight and Obesity. It has been widely documented that the increase in obesity throughout the world is closely linked to food policies, understood as one of the structural social determinants of health. Healthy public policies should be formulated to promote the prevention and control of Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases and reorient health systems so that they meet the needs of people suffering from excess body weight. The objective of this article is to know the factors that have driven the generation of programs, strategies and public policies around the epidemic of Overweigth and Obesity in order to ensure its control and prevention in the Mexican population.