| | |  Health & Beauty | September 2009 
The Enemy Within: Mexico's Obesity Epidemic
 Thérese Margolis - The News
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September 25, 2009
| | Mexico's weight problem is pervasive. | |
According to figures provided by the Public Health Secretariat (SSP), as of 2006, when the last national study on weight issues was undertaken, nearly 70 percent of all adult Mexicans were considered to be severely overweight, and a full 30 percent fell into the category of obese.
What's more, the problem is on the rise. In fact, according to the SSP, obesity rates in Mexico have doubled for adults and tripled for children since 1980.
"We don't have exact figures for this year," said Simón Barquera, head of the National Institute of Public Health's (INSP) nutritional epidemiology department, "but we have found is that the incidence of excess weight and obesity is increasing at a rate of about 2 percent each year."
Barquera added that Mexico has now reached a "critical juncture" in its health-care focus because the conditions associated with excess weight are straining the country's medical services facilities to their limit.
The underlying causes for excess weight are multiple, he said, but in about 85 percent of the cases, the main origin of the problem is environmental.
"Simply put, people eat too much and do too little exercise," Barquera said. "We need to get people moving and convince them to follow healthier diets."
The alternative, Barquera said, is an increase in the already high incidence of diabetes, hypertension, stroke, heart disease and countless other illnesses associated with excess weight.
"If we don't make dramatic changes in our current sedentary lifestyles, we are condemning ourselves to a future of cancer, heart disease and diabetes," he said
But getting people to change their lifestyles is no easy matter, according to Maureen Mosti Molina, head of the ABC Hospital's Center for Nutrition, Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (CNOAM).
"Once they make up their minds, most people can lose weight," Mosti Molina said. "The real problem is keeping it off, and that's where people need help."
That help is now being offered in the form of an integral, multi-disciplinary treatment program at the CNOAM.
The center not only gives dietary guidance and meal plans provided by trained nutritionists, but has a specialized team of four psychologists, two internists, two surgeons and an endocrinologist.
"The first thing people have to realize about excess weight and obesity is that it is a disease," Mosti Molina said. "That disease is chronic, but it is treatable. That is what the ABC Center for Nutrition, Obesity and Metabolic Disorders provides."
Patients who come to the CNOAM are first interviewed and tested to help find the root causes of their condition.
"Some patients may have a hormonal disorder or they may be using food as an emotional or psychological crutch," Mosti Molina said. "Whatever the cause of their excess weight, we try to impress on them the fact that they are not to blame for their illness, although the successful treatment of that illness will depend on them doing their part."
The severity of a patient's disease is rated by their Body Mass Index (BMI), which is determined by dividing their weight in kilos by the square of their height in meters. People with a 25 to 29.9 BMI are considered overweight, while those with a 30 to 34.9 BMI are categorized as having Grade 1 obesity. A BMI of 35 to 39.9 is considered Grade 2 obesity and anything over 40 is classified as morbid obesity.
"Once a patient reached the level of a Grade 2 or morbid obesity, they are considered a candidate for bariatric (gastric bypass) surgery," explained Miguel F. Herrera Hernández, the CNOAM chief surgeon. "The surgery is laparoscopic, which means it is minimally invasive, and the patient is usually walking that same day although they have to spend a couple days in the hospital."
Mosti Molina noted that the CNOAM is the first and only weight management and obesity center in Mexico to have achieved the preliminary International Center of Excellence for Bariatric Surgery (ICE) designation, and it is now awaiting the final approval from that body in late 2009 or early 2010.
"That means that our patients can rest assured that they are receiving medical care comparable to the best care offered in U.S. hospitals, and at a considerably lower price," she said.
Nonetheless, like all surgeries, there are risks of complications, Herrera Hernández admitted. "We always take those risks into account, but in most cases, the risks for a patient if he or she does not have the surgery are far greater," he said.
In the five years that the CNOAM has been opened, more than 450 patients have been successfully treated with bariatric surgery at the ABC Hospital.
But Mosti Molina was quick to point out that more than three quarters of the patients who come to the CNOAM do not need surgery.
"We can treat these patients through integral lifestyle training and special low-calorie dietary supplements," she said. "The treatment lasts about six months, and patients have to commit themselves to it, but in most cases, they get real, long-term results."
"The important thing to remember is that there are no magic bullets when it comes to treating excess weight and obesity," said Herrera Hernández. "Even bariatric surgery is no guarantee of permanent weight loss if a patient is not willing to make serious lifestyle changes."
Herrera Hernández said that weight management takes work and commitment on the part of the patient.
"The real solution to a patient's weight problem rests with them," he said, "but we can provide them with reliable tools to help them be successful in their battle to control their weight." |
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