Journalist Bodzin has an interesting article about how obesity is taking over Latin America.
There have been some reports about this before. We heard and read about this already 8 years ago about such places as South Africa.
Already in May of this year I could read an article in El Universal telling us Venezuelans are yet again climbing another of those negative rankings and went from being the 6th most obese on Earth to being Nr 5.
Causes are complex. In Venezuela we have the added factor of criminality: the average citizen in Venezuela has over 40 more chances of getting murdered than in Chile and usually he gets murdered when he is on the streets.
The last times I have been in Venezuela I was surprised to see so many obese people there were now. It was not surprising but rather ironic to see so many ads about light beer, Coke, butter, you name it. I would eat with friends and I could see how their appetite was out of control and they hadn't noticed it at all. We would for instance be out eating some cachapas and I would see the cheese slices in those cachapas were three times thicker than I knew them...and my friends and relatives didn't even notice that. They also didn't miss the salads and healthy sauces I used to get before.
So: apart from new stress, less time, less spaces for doing sports, we have the issue of oblivions: we forget what our habits and culinary traditions were.
In Venezuela those who can afford it often take the easy but dangerous and unsustainable way: go for surgery.
Obesity will cost us a fortune in the middle to long term.
Do you think a government or the media will do anything about that?