The Soft Drink Invasion on Indigenous in Mexico; Increased Diabetes Death Rick Kearns - Indian Country Today | |
go to original June 4, 2014 |
More Indigenous people in Chiapas are dying from diabetes according to a study released this month in Mexico, and officials are noting this increase is connected to the consumption of more sugary foods and drinks and fewer traditional indigenous ones.
According to data released by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (NISG) in the last 20 years the incidence of diabetes in Indigenous Peoples of Chiapas has increased dramatically: in 2002 diabetes was the 13th highest killer of indigenous people and by 2012 it increased to the 5th highest cause of death; in 2000, 3 percent of indigenous Chiapans were diagnosed with diabetes and by 2012 that figure rose to 5.6 percent or 300,000 people.
Regional Comitan Hospital Director Francisco Paniagua asserted in recent interviews that the migration of indigenous to the United States and back has brought access to other types of flour and sugars and, at the same time, a decrease in the consumption of foods produced in the communities.
It was also noted that there was an increase in the consumption of more bottled drinks, taking the place of pozol, an ancient Mayan beverage made of corn and water. Along with the access, prices were a factor as well. The cost of Coca-Cola for example, is lower in the rural areas than in urban regions. One local official pointed out how Coca-Cola has found its way into indigenous cultural events.
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