[Obesity in Mexico].

Excess body weight (overweight and obesity) is currently recognized as one of the most important challenges of public health in the world, given its size, speed of growth and the negative effect it has on the health of the population that suffers. Overweight and obesity significantly increases the risk of chronic no communicable diseases, premature mortality and the social cost of health. An estimated 90 % of cases of type 2 diabetes mellitus attributable to overweight and obesity. Today, Mexico is second global prevalence of obesity in the adult population, which is ten times higher than that of countries like Japan and Korea. With regard to children, Mexico ranks fourth worldwide obesity prevalence, behind Greece, USA and Italy. In our country, over 70 % of the adult population, between 30 and 60 years are overweight. The prevalence of overweight is higher in men than females, while the prevalence of obesity is higher in women than men. Until 2012, 26 million Mexican adults are overweight and 22 million obese, which represents a major challenge for the health sector in terms of promoting healthy lifestyles in the population and development of public policies to reverse this scenario epidemiology. Mexico needs to plan and implement strategies and action cost effective for the prevention and control of obesity of children, adolescents and adults. Global experience shows that proper care of obesity and overweight, required to formulate and coordinate multisectoral strategies and efficient for enhancing protective factors to health, particularly to modify individual behavior, family and community.