Mexico is one of the countries with the highest rate of obesity, 87% of Mexican adults are categorized as obese and 40 % of Mexican children are also in this category. It involves every member of the family.

According to the National Institute for Pediatrics, there is a distorted opinion about the state of malnutrition and obesity of Mexican’s children. The results show that overweight is considered the best state of nutrition and health during childhood. A very low percentage of the population in fact identifies overweight or obesity as a chronic disease or relates it to non-communicable diseases that can affect the adult life.

Our target is families, specifically adults living with their children in big cities. The family structure as well as the community and the neighborhood bond play a significant part in the Mexican culture; it is the core of everything. We then decided to focus on low income households as they are the ones that, most of the time, do not have resource availability and for this reason they may be disadvantaged. In general, the mother has a relevant role in the food and beverage decision making and grocery shopping; she is also the one that prepares all the meals for the family. Low income families usually grocery shop at the street markets and in small family-run shops called tienditas which only carry the basic ingredients used in every Mexican meal.

A big issue in Mexico is the water distribution and accessibility. Since 1992, some decrees authorized the sale of domestic waters to international companies which lead to the decrease of the availability of potable water to the citizens. The only way to get drinkable water in Mexico is to buy it in a bottle. In addition, the strong presence the strong presence of soda brands in the market causes even more problems to citizens’ health. Mexico is the world’s largest consumer of sweet drinks, they cost the same as a regular bottle of water and this is one of the main reasons why the consumption is so high.

Following these multiple observations, we have therefore chosen to act on this last crucial point in Mexicans, which is hydration. The overconsumption of soda contributes to the overall rise of obesity, health problem and unconsciously bad habits in the country. Our goal is to raise awareness within families on the need to reduce their consumption of sweet drinks in order to have an impact on the rest of their diet.

Our full report on Mexico Food Consumption here