Obesidad y salud pública en México: transformación del patrón hegemónico de oferta-demanda de alimentos

Abstract

Excess weight and obesity are a major public health problem affecting Mexico’s economic development. Studying them from a medical or epidemiological approach has proved insufficient, given the size of the problem and myriad factors underlying it. It is therefore time to bring an economic perspective into the analysis to find the structural causes, looking at the ways food is eaten, which shape the hegemonic supply and demand patterns imposed by the globalization of the markets, infringing on local patterns. The empirical evidence shows that the shift from a traditional diet to an industrialized diet with high sugar content and refined flours has fueled the prevalence of this public health problem.