While touring southern Chiapas state last month, Mexico\u2019s coronavirus czar took aim at a vice he considers culpable for the country\u2019s pandemic problems: rampant soda consumption.<\/p>\n
Health Undersecretary Hugo L\u00f3pez-Gatell tried to connect soda consumption with COVID-19 deaths, blaming sugar for causing\u00a0comorbidities such as obesity,\u00a0diabetes and hypertension \u2013 maladies common in Mexico, where almost three-quarters of the population is overweight, according to a study by the\u00a0Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy do we need bottled poison in soft drinks?\u201d L\u00f3pez-Gatell asked. \u201cHealth in Mexico would be very different if we stopped being deceived by these lifestyles sold on television and heard on radio and which we see on adverts \u2013 as if this was happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n
As COVID-19 cases mount and the death toll soars \u2013\u00a0Mexico trails only Brazil and the USA in pandemic fatalities\u00a0\u2013 L\u00f3pez-Gatell and President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador have pinned Mexico\u2019s pandemic problems on its poor nutrition habits\u00a0\u2013 soda consumption chief among them.<\/p>\n
Mexicans drink more soda per capita than any other country \u2013 about\u00a0163 liters per year.\u00a0Bottlers such as Coca-Cola deliver products to the remote corners of the country \u2013 where potable water is scant and soda is often sold for less than water.<\/p>\n
L\u00f3pez-Gatell and L\u00f3pez Obrador equivocate on the\u00a0effectiveness of wearing face masks,\u00a0but they\u2019ve expressed fewer doubts on the negative impact of junk food and soda and its connection to COVID-19 fatalities.<\/p>\n
Coronavirus diet?\u00a0Obesity, exercise affect severity of COVID-19<\/p>\n
\u201cThe evidence is very clear, but there are many interests, which have led to information being covered up in other administrations,\u201d said L\u00f3pez-Gatell, who claimed sugary drink consumption claimed 40,000 deaths annually in Mexico. \u201cWith products that do damage, we have to discourage their consumption so that fewer people are unhealthy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
L\u00f3pez-Gatell has been criticized for his handling of the pandemic. He has not tested widely for the coronavirus or conducted contact tracing as the death toll passed 60,000.<\/p>\n
L\u00f3pez Obrador has peddled self-help lists as the pandemic worsens \u2013 with tips such as eating a \u201ctraditional diet\u201d of corn, rice and beans, avoiding consumerism and finding spirituality. He\u2019s spoken favorably of families acting as a social safety net rather than announcing robust economic relief packages.<\/p>\n
\u201cDr. L\u00f3pez-Gatell has decided to adopt a new strategy: find scapegoats,\u201d said Malaqu\u00edas L\u00f3pez-Cervantes, public health professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. \u201cIt\u2019s a pretext because the fact that sugary drinks contribute to gaining weight and obesity in Mexico is nothing new.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mexico\u2019s beverage industry shot back at L\u00f3pez-Gatell, saying Mexicans consume less than 6% of their daily calories from sugary drinks.<\/p>\n
Public health proponents said the castigation of big soda is long overdue. And some states are starting to act.<\/p>\n
Southern Oaxaca state approved a ban this month on the sale of sodas and sugary snack foods to children. Tabasco state approved a similar measure this month, and federal lawmakers raised the possibility of a national ban on junk food sales to kids, citing COVID-19 complications.<\/p>\n
Oversized labels are set to appear on products containing high amounts of sugar, salt, calories or saturated fats, starting in October.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was already a pandemic, and we were calling attention to it and saying people are dying,\u201d said Alejandro Calvillo, director of El Poder del Consumidor, a consumer organization and longtime critic of Mexico\u2019s beverage industry.<\/p>\n
Adv<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n The soda habit starts young in Mexico. A survey by El Poder del Consumidor from Guerrero state found 70% of children consumed soda for breakfast; another 70% of children reported drinking sodas at least three times the previous day.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat really strikes me is seeing people at 7 a.m. already poisoning themselves by drinking Coca-Cola,\u201d said Pedro Arriaga, a Jesuit priest in rural Chiapas.<\/p>\n Beverage companies are among Mexico\u2019s biggest advertisers and political lobbies.\u00a0Calvillo and other\u00a0proponents of a tax on sugary drinks were among the targets of an espionage campaign,\u00a0in which sophisticated spyware was surreptitiously installed on their smartphones. (The government and beverage industry denied any involvement in the espionage.)<\/p>\n Mexico introduced a\u00a0tax on sugary drinks\u00a0and high-calorie snacks in 2014 as part of a fiscal package. The 1-peso-per-liter tax (roughly 5 cents) diminished soda consumption by 6% in 2015 and 7.5% in 2016, according to Juan Rivera Dommarco, general director of Mexico\u2019s National Public Health Institute.<\/p>\n The money raised by the tax hasn\u2019t gone toward public health as promised or paid for installing fountains in dilapidated schoolhouses, which often lack running water, according to Calvillo.<\/p>\n The impact of the soda tax is disputed by the owners of Mexico\u2019s ubiquitous mom-and-pop retailers, who said people prioritize sugary drinks before other purchases.<\/p>\n \u201cSoda-drinking habits correspond to poverty and the economic needs of the country,\u201d said Cuauht\u00e9moc Rivera, director of the National Alliance of Small Merchants, Anpec, which represents thousands of stores.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no money to consume (a healthy) diet or eat better,\u201d he said, and small merchants depend on soda for 25% of sales.<\/p>\n In Mexico City\u2019s southern Xochimilco borough, stricken with COVID-19 cases, locals purchasing sodas spoke of risks \u2013 and the difficulty of kicking the habit.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like an addiction. Even though we know it does damage, we keep on consuming it,\u201d V\u00edctor Mart\u00ednez Alvarado, a government employee, said after buying a 3-liter bottle of sugar-free Coca-Cola. \u201cThey say sugar-free doesn\u2019t do damage, but I think it\u2019s the same. It does the same damage.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m aware as a consumer that this causes damage,\u201d David Gonz\u00e1lez Flores, a construction worker, said between sips of Coca-Cola. \u201cBut it\u2019s something that I like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n While touring southern Chiapas state last month, Mexico\u2019s coronavirus czar took aim at a vice he considers culpable for the country\u2019s pandemic problems: rampant soda consumption. Health Undersecretary Hugo L\u00f3pez-Gatell tried to connect soda consumption with COVID-19 deaths, blaming sugar for causing\u00a0comorbidities such as obesity,\u00a0diabetes and hypertension \u2013 maladies common in Mexico, where almost three-quarters …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":65963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[4168],"yoast_head":"\n\r\n \t